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THE LIFE OF
LAMARTINE

IN TWO VOLUMES
VOLUME II

ALPHONSE DE LAMARTINE
From an engraving by W. J. Edwards after the portrait by F. Gerard

THE UFE OF

LAMA1LTIME

BY
H. REMSEN WHITEHOUSE

WITH IL LUSTRA TIO NS

,«0$e

a^fcfcWe

=^V.

VOLUME TWO

Boston and New York
Houghton Mifflin Company

The Riverside Press Cambridge
I9l8

Published September igrS

To His Excellency
MONSIEUR J. J. JUSSERAND

French Ambassador to the United States

With the expression of my highest
esteem and profound personal admira-
tion, I respectfully dedicate this study
of the life and work of one of the
noblest and purest literary and politi-
cal glories of France.

h. r. w.

CONTENTS

XXXII. The Champion of Abuses — Home Life . i

XXXIII. Parliamentary Progress 30

XXXIV. An Eclectic in Politics 50

XXXV. The Eastern Question 74

XXXVI. The Guizot Ministry 96

XXXVII. Church and State . . . .. . .117

XXXVIII. The History of the Girondins . . .142

XXXIX. A Campaign of Banquets . . . . .169

XL. Abdication of Louis-Philippe . . . 190

XLI. The Provisional Government . . .217

XLII. Minister for Foreign Affairs . . . 247

XLIII. Dissensions in the Government . . .271

XLIV. The Clubs — Foreign Deputations . . 293

XLV. Foreign and Domestic Policy . . .311

XLVI. The Sixteenth of April 328

XLVII. The National Assembly 342

XLVIII. The Wane of his Influence .... 359

XLIX. Louis Napoleon Bonaparte .... 378

L. The Insurrection of Hunger . . . 394

LI. The Presidential Election .... 406

LI I. Author and Editor 427

LIII. Years of Adversity 441

. . vii • •

CONTENTS

LIV. The Struggle for Existence 454

LV. Declining Years 463

LVI. Political Views 477

LVII. The Last Sleep ■ • 486

Index 491

ILLUSTRATIONS

Alphonse de Lamartine . . Photogravure Frontispiece
From an engraving by W. J. Edwards after the portrait by
F. Gerard

Madame Alphonse de Lamartine 14

Chateau Lamartine at Monceau 20

Lamartine in 1839 80

From the painting by Decaisne

Lamartine in 1848 220

From an engraving by Pelee after the lithograph from life by
Maurin, May, 1848

Triumph of Lamartine, May 15, 1848 .... 370

From a contemporary lithograph in colors by F. Tichet

Lamartine's Study at Saint-Point 452

Lamartine as an Old Man 464

From a photograph by Alexandre Martin, Paris

The Tomb of Lamartine 488

THE LIFE OF LAMARTINE

CHAPTER XXXII
THE CHAMPION OF ABUSES — HOME LIFE

Short as was to be this first Ministry of Thiers (Febru-
ary 22 to September 6, 1836), it established the reputa-
tion of the statesman who was to play so preponderant a
r61e in the destinies of his country thirty-four years later.

During the few months of the parliamentary session
Lamartine, although refraining from purely political de-
bate, found himself in frequent conflict with the Thiers
Administration on questions of economic legislation as
well as the conduct of the Cabinet's foreign policy in the
East.

Although embodying anti-protectionist theories since
accepted as sound principles of trade economics, the
speech on the liberty of commerce which Lamartine de-
livered on April 14 gives small evidence of a comprehen-
sive grasp or appreciation of the fundamental basis of the
industrial issues ; while the flights of more or less Utopian
rhetoric seriously detract from the value of the truths he
enunciated. Interruptions were frequent, some of a per-
sonal character, amongst others that of M. Jaubert, who
reproached the speaker with having facilitated the inves-
tigations of an English free-trader whom the British Gov-
ernment had sent across the Channel to preach commer-
cial reform — Mr. Bowring. The attack was certainly un-
warranted, for Mr. Bowring, as Lamartine explained, had
undertaken his mission as much in the interests of France
as of his own country. There could be no question of

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

commercial espionage ; and the fact that Mr. Bowring was
a personal friend of the great Irish agitator O'Connell in
no way compromised Lamartine politically. Far from
repudiating such a friendship had it existed, Lamartine
asserted that he would consider it an honour to be the
friend of so illustrious a patriot, and one who had de-
fended with such energy and talent, for the last eighteen
years, the independence, the liberty, and the religion of
his country.1

In the course of the debate Lamartine dwelt upon the
facilities the English Government had ungrudgingly ac-
corded to Victor Jacquemont, a French botanist who had
undertaken a perilous voyage of exploration in India.
Leaving France in 1828, Jacquemont, thanks to the
friendship of Lord William Bentinck, and to his knowl-
edge of Persian and Hindustanee, had penetrated into
Cashmire and to the borders of Thibet. He died of fever
at Bombay on December 7, 1832.2

On May 25 an opportunity was afforded Lamartine to
attack the policy of the Government again on the ques-
tion of the abolition of slavery in the colonies. On this
great moral issue the orator was at his best, and the noble
sentiments he expressed could not fail to impress deeply
not only his audience in the Chamber, but public opinion
in two hemispheres. The Government, seeking merely the
sanction of the Chamber for the colonial budget, desired
to adjourn indefinitely a discussion of the abolition of
slavery in the West Indies. To Lamartine such a course
was inadmissible. He indignantly refuted the objection
that for the present a debate of such an issue was useless
and dangerous. England had recently,3 after a struggle
extending over a period of forty-three years, yielded to

1 Cf. La France parlemenlaire, vol. I, p. 235; also vol. in, p. 438.
1 Cf. Prosper Merimee, Portraits historiques et litUraires, p. 55.
1 August 28, 1833.

THE CHAMPION OF ABUSES— HOME LIFE

the pleadings and substantial arguments of Wilberforce.
Lamartine demanded that France, which had fought so
nobly for the grant of civic liberties for her citizens, and
the world, should follow the example of her neighbour.
In the French colonies some forty thousand masters held
in vile subjection over two hundred and fifty thousand
of their fellow-men. The speaker did not advocate un-
conditional emancipation, involving financial ruin and
the destruction of economic conditions in the islands.
But he demanded that the motion for an adjournment
of the question be overruled. It was a burning issue,
and one which the nation which had made such super-
human sacrifices in the name of liberty could ill afford
to postpone. He counselled moderation, the gradual
freeing of the blacks, and the framing of an equitable
scale of pecuniary compensation to the masters whose
property was taken from them. The financial sacrifice the
mother country would be called upon to make was not
considerable, would in fact, if extended over a period of
years, hardly be felt by the taxpayer. The system lately
adopted in the British colonies, of an intermediate stage
of apprenticeship for the liberated slaves, had worked
well during the three years it had been in effect, and
Lamartine suggested a similar experiment in the French
West Indies.

The peroration of this really magnificent appeal to the
humanitarian instincts of his hearers contained a phrase
which has been often cited as typical of the Lamar-
tinian philosophy. "J'apporte parfois a cette tribune
quelques v6rites qu'on appelle avancees, qu'on appelle
ideales, qu'on appelle peut-etre pertubatrices, et qui, selon
moi, sont eminemment conservatrices ; car je ne connais
rien au monde de si revolutionnaire qu'un abus qu'on
laisse subsister, rien au monde de plus revolutionnaire
qu'une immoralite, qu'une iniquite qu'on peut corriger

. . 3 . .

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

et qu'on laisse consacrer dans la loi." * The motion failed ;
but two years later 2 Lamartine again took up his theme,
and in February, 1840,3 renewed his attacks against this
iniquitous institution at a banquet of the French society
for the emancipation of slavery. Few men in France had
given the matter closer attention : from the moral as well
as the economic point of view, Lamartine was master of
his subject. The constitutional sentimentalism insepa-
rable from his treatment of any social problem was, how-
ever, in this instance, amply compensated by the practi-
cal common sense he brought to bear on the abolition of
an institution so at variance with modern conceptions
of the laws governing the moral administration of the
body politic. For the final abolition of this crying social
abuse France owes much to the indefatigable efforts of the
legislator who possessed the foresight to discern the eco-
nomic fallacies of the system, and the courage to proclaim,
in the face of determined opposition, the patriotism of
according the rights of citizenship to a despised and down-
trodden race.

The session of 1836 was fruitful in useful lessons for
Lamartine, and he took the fullest advantage of every
issue to perfect himself in parliamentary tactics. In June
he wrote to the ever-faithful friend of his youth, Virieu :
"Nine times in succession I have spoken, and the Cham-
ber is silent, attentive, and even enthusiastic. I am
making progress in improvisation and parliamentary
eloquence. In four years, if God aids me, I shall have
conquered this enormous difficulty. I work immensely, as
I never did before at any time of my life." 4 More and
more he became the champion of abuses political, admin-
istrative, fiscal, parliamentary, and electoral. Drawing
ever nearer the people, the "national conscience," as he

1 La France parlementaire, vol. I, p. 264. * February 15, 1838.

1 Also in March, 1842. * Cones pondance, dcxxix.

THE CHAMPION OF ABUSES— HOME LIFE

styled it, he felt with ever-increasing dexterity the pulse
of popular sentiment. France was launched on the sea of
Democracy, and the Citizen-King, who stood at the helm
and who owed his throne to the democratic revolution,
must, in Lamartine's estimation, truly and faithfully im-
personate and incarnate the spirit of the new order. In his
eyes political sagacity forbade any attempt to arrest the
irresistible impulses; but the dangers created by blind
resistance on the one hand and revolutionary violence on
the other might be averted by an intelligent appreciation
on the part of the Government of the social aspirations
seething throughout the country. With this object in
view he sought to enlarge the political franchise, and con-
fer on an ever-increasing number of citizens the moral
rights and obligations appertaining to free men under a
regime professing the broadest constitutional liberties.
Like De Tocqueville, whom he resembled in more senses
than one, Lamartine deplored that "the policy of prin-
ciples was sacrificed to a policy of expedients and in-
trigue."

It was natural enough, of course, that Louis- Philippe,
descending as he did from a long line of arbitrary rulers,
should at times resent (honest democratic sovereign
though he was) the continual encroachments of levelling
doctrines calculated still further to debase his royal pres-
tige in the eyes of Continental courts. Of the Tuileries,
however, and the dynastic ambitions of the Orleans estab-
lished there, Lamartine took little thought. Their mis-
sion was a temporary one, acceptable enough until such
time as France, and by France he understood again the
"popular conscience," should awaken and pronounce
definitely for the system of government best adapted for
the maintenance of order, and the furtherance of the
social ideals which constituted humanity's inalienable
heritage. Meanwhile it was his individual ambition to

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

form and guide his fellow-citizens; not within the limits
of party restrictions, however, for, as he wrote Virieu, he
could find no place in the political groups formed since
1830: "I want a party which dates farther back and em-
braces a broader policy."1 Enigmatical as the phrase
sounds, it can perhaps be satisfactorily interpreted as an
expression of Lamartine's aspiration to reconcile the tra-
ditions of the past with the principles of social evolution
he had embraced. It has been shown that the threads of
politics and philosophy were inextricably interwoven in
the web of moral ethics Dargaud had spun. "Do you
wish to fathom my soul?" he asked Virieu. " It is sad and
harrowed. Philosophy is penetrating and transforming it,
not for evil, but lending another form." 2 Respect for his
14 Royalist past," as he terms it, still held him back almost
as much as did his reverence for his mother's simple
creed.3

His mistrust of the doctrinaires forbade any political
alliance with a party which still exercised considerable
influence, but whose long struggle with the frankly revo-
lutionary elements of July he foresaw must soon end in
defeat. This party he recognized as having been a neces-
sity in the earlier stages of the new regime, but in 1836 he
believed the doctrinaires "gratuitously odious to the
nation." 4 This he told Thiers, whom he reproached for
acting as a tool of a party doomed to destruction ; and if
we are to believe Lamartine, Thiers took the hint. Be
this as it may, he certainly welcomed the advent to power
of the short-lived Ministry of February 22, although,
writing at a much later date, he denied that Thiers ever
possessed the instincts of a statesman.5 Thiers certainly
did not deserve this criticism, for during this, his first, brief

1 Correspondence, dcxxviii. ■ Ibid., dcxxii.

* Cf. Memoires politiques, vol. I, p. 331.

* Ibid., vol. I, p. 331. * Ibid., p. 332; vol. in, p. 20.

. . 6 • .

THE CHAMPION OF ABUSES— HOME LIFE

tenure of office, he gave every evidence of the adroitness
in public affairs his subsequent triumphant career was to
verify. But in view of the chaotic condition of politics
and the multiplicity of warring parties within the Cham-
ber, it was hardly to be expected that the young Premier
would give universal satisfaction. In those days of im-
passioned eloquence fashionable and intellectual Parisian
society flocked to the Chamber as it does to an Academic
reception to-day. Certain orators had become public
favourites ; and these charmed and thrilled their audience
as some great actor might have done in the romantic
dramas so dear to the heart of the generation which had
produced a Victor Hugo, and of whom Chateaubriand
was still the idol. Whenever such brilliant rhetoricians as
Guizot, Berryer, Thiers, or Lamartine might be expected
to speak, the Chamber was filled to overflowing.1

Lamartine was not insensible to this form of flattery.
Nor was he indifferent to the adulation he received both
as poet and as statesman in the aristocratic literary or
purely political salons he assiduously frequented when
not detained at home by his duties as host in the rue de
TUniversite. The foremost official political salon was, of
course, that of the President of the Chamber, but those
of the Ministers for Foreign Affairs and of the Interior
were equally important in the eyes of conscientious depu-
ties, eager to avail themselves of every opportunity for
gauging the currents of national and foreign public opin-
ion. M. Guizot's salon during the eighteen years he
played a conspicuous role, either as a member of Louis-
Philippe's Government or as a dominating factor in the
Chamber, was the recognized centre of political influence.
With Lamartine he shared the admiration of English and
foreign visitors of distinction. But the two men were
never friends. As an acknowledged leader of the doc-
1 De Beaumont- Vassy, Les Salons de Paris, p. 265.
• • 7 • •

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

trinaires Guizot was frankly antipathetic to Lamartine,
who, while admitting his considerable literary and politi-
cal talents, was repelled by the cold, dogmatic Calvinism,
combined with a narrow and unyielding conservatism,
which characterized in Guizot both the writer and the
statesman. Lamartine made no secret of his dislike of
Guizot and those of his ilk, who incurred his open con-
demnation. "They were, they are, and always will be
antipathetic to the French character. Pretension consti-
tutes their only claim to talent: ambition their only
force." !

"lam working as I never did before," Lamartine wrote
in February, 1836. But politics alone did not absorb all
his time and energies. "Jocelyn" was finished and on the
point of publication. A few days later the jubilant author
informed his friend Virieu that the new poem was unani-
mously voted a greater success than the "Meditations."
Everywhere the book met with enthusiastic praise (the
critics had not yet discovered its heresies of dogma) : " It
is read in the schools by all professors at their lectures,
and it is selling by thousands of copies. They say it is
beautiful." 2 Nor did the author exaggerate the success
he had achieved. In twenty-seven days twenty-four thou-
sand copies of the book were sold in France alone, while
during the same period seven editions were published in
Belgium, and an equal number in Germany. Literary
circles in France received "Jocelyn" with transports of
artistic enthusiasm. In his "Journal d'un poete" Alfred
de Vigny writes that he spent his nights over the work,
and notes the delight its perusal afforded him.3 Two
years later the poets met for the first time in the salon of
the Marquise de la Grange, and for two hours sat apart
" in a dark corner in closest converse." From literature

1 Memoires politiques, vol. i, p. 316. * Correspondance, DCXZVL

1 Cf. L. Ratisbonne, Alfred de Vigny, p. 107.

. . 8 • •

THE CHAMPION OF ABUSES— HOME LIFE

and politics their talk drifted to a discussion on the com-
parative merits of Islamism and Christianity, Lamartine
maintaining that the followers of the Prophet practised
civilization in the higher sense by virtue of their charity.
"Nevertheless," objected the author of "Cinq-Mars,"
"Islamism is merely a corrupt Christianity." "A puri-
fied Christianity" hotly contested the author of the
"Voyage en Orient." x Lamartine has said that politics
redoubled his love of literature. Absorbed as he might be
in questions of the hour, he sought continually to give his
speeches the literary polish he admired so fervently in the
orators of Greece and Rome and among those of his con-
temporaries whose superiority he acknowledged. Refer-
ring to his oratory during the troublous times of 1848,
when his eloquence held at bay the bloodthirsty mob be-
sieging the Hotel de Ville, he states: "I often had occasion
of observing, during the long dialogue the hazard of a
revolution established between me and the populace, that
the more literary my harangues were, the closer became
the attention of my hearers; that vulgarity of language
only gained their contempt; but that when words suited
to the loftiness of their sentiments were used by the
speaker, he obtained an ascendant over the mob in direct
ratio with the diapason of his eloquence. Grandeur, that
is the literature of the people: be magniloquent, and you
can say what you want." 2

Literary perfection in his speeches was often, it must be
admitted, obtained at the sacrifice of clearness, and of
that blunt directness which hits hardest when stripped of
superfluous verbiage. The substance of his discourse
suffered too frequently by reason of this worship of form.
But although this scrupulous searching after classical per-
fection unquestionably impaired the effectiveness of their
oral delivery, the readers of Lamartine's speeches — even

1 Cf. Ratisbonne, op. cit., p. 125. * Cours de litterature, vol. I, p. 66.

. . 9 . .

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

those dealing with the driest political or economic prob-
lems of the hour — will hardly cavil at the delicate beau-
ties of phrase and sentiment. Thoroughly versed in the
humanities, Lamartine had early taken as his models in
parliamentary eloquence those masters of oratory and
polished debate, Fox and the younger Pitt. With such
guides as these, in conjunction with his own innate
tendency towards a literary expression of the most com-
monplace subjects, it is hardly to be wondered at that
hard-headed politicians found him artificial and exag-
gerated. "J'aurais voulu," he admits, "que la vie pu-
blique melat le talent litteraire a tout." And going a step
further, he insists that mere speech is insufficient; the
orator must clothe the most commonplace subjects with
the dignity of eloquence; "That which cannot be said
with literary elegance is not worth saying." This utilita-
rian age would certainly refute so sweeping an assertion.
But we must never forget that Lamartine belonged tem-
peramentally to a school which classed rhetoric among
the most sublime of parliamentary virtues, and which
was not inclined to disagree with him when he expostu-
lates that all subjects touching humanity should be
treated "avec l'accent surhumain de la philosophie, de la
trag6die ou de la religion." x

An acquaintance which rapidly ripened into friendship
about this period was that with the Abbe Cceur. The
future Bishop of Troyes, at that time a fashionable pulpit
orator who drew all intellectual Paris to his church, was
an ardent apostle of Christian Democracy. Nor was
Lamartine alone in his admiration of this eloquent re-
former. At a later date Cavour, writing to Santa Rosa,
confessed that the doctrines of this ecclesiastic had pene-
trated and touched his intelligence and his heart: " le jour
ou je les verrai sincerement et g6neralement adoptees par

1 Cours de liUerature, vol. I, p. 65.
. . 10 • •

THE CHAMPION OF ABUSES — HOME LIFE

l'Eglise," he added, "je deviendrai probablement un
catholique aussi ardent que toi." * It was possibly the
Princess Belgiojoso, who brought about the meeting be-
tween Lamartine and the Abbe Cceur; but Virieu had al-
ready spoken of the preacher and lauded his charm.2 On
several occasions the abbe was his guest at Monceau, and
Lamartine, as the acquaintance ripened, pronounced him
"un homme qui a du fond et qui ira loin." 3 Although
the abbe certainly exercised no direct influence over the
author of " Jocelyn," the principles of the Christian De-
mocracy he professed were even more in accord with
those Lamartine himself entertained than had been the
more concrete doctrines of Lamennais. The close intel-
lectual bonds binding Lamartine to Lamennais have been
already mentioned. They were apparent to the disciples
of the theologian, and clearly discernible to students of
the poet's metaphysical doctrines expressed in the "Po-
litique rationnelle," the "Voyage en Orient," and even
"Jocelyn." Yet after the publication of Lamennais's
"Paroles d'un Croyant" (April, 1834), the influence of
the abbe's political theories in questions affecting the or-
ganization of Lamartine's cherished parti social dwindled
to the vanishing point. Greatly irritated by what he con-
sidered a check to the policy he was striving to inaugu-
rate, he wrote Virieu that he had done his best to prevent
the publication in its present form. " It is, in two words,"
he exclaimed, "the Gospel of insurrection, Babeuf made
divine. It causes great harm to me and my future party
[the parti social], for nothing kills an idea like exaggera-
tion. . . . The beauties of style are incomparable : it hor-
rifies everybody and renders youth fanatic." 4 The mili-
tant ardour of the priest who in 1824 had declined a car-
dinal's hat, to be ten years later stigmatized by the Holy

1 Cf. Epistolario, vol. I, p. 326.

8 Correspondence, dcviii. * Ibid., dcxviii. 4 Ibid., dxciv.

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

See "a dangerous pervert," was indeed perilous to La-
martine's prudent policy of reform. Ultra- Democracy
was as distasteful to the author of the "Politique ra-
tionnelle" as was the retrograde attitude of the ultra-
Legitimists, who sought to discredit the moral influ-
ences of the progressive programme of reconstruction
the parti social was framed to uphold. Neither a revo-
lutionary nor a reactionary, the Abbe Cceur gave prom-
ise of useful cooperation: nowhere conspicuous, his dis-
creet restrictive influence is occasionally discernible.

But the man who, with the exception of Dargaud, was
most closely associated with Lamartine's intellectual ac-
tivity from the moment he entered political life, was
Count Adolphe de Circourt. It will be remembered that
shortly before the fall of Charles X, Lamartine had been
offered the post of French Minister at Athens. At the
same time Circourt received the appointment of Secre-
tary to the Legation in Greece. The Revolution of July,
entailing the resignation of Lamartine from the diploma-
tic service, separated for a time the two men who were
already almost friends. On his return from the East, and
his assumption of parliamentary duties, Lamartine found
M. de Circourt and his wife (a Russian) established in
Paris, and the intimacy between the two households de-
veloped rapidly. Circourt was a man of vast erudition,
possessed of a phenomenally retentive memory, and
gifted with a facility for historical and scientific analysis
which has been justly termed encyclopaedic. As Lamar-
tine remarked : "Circourt is the Library of Alexandria. I
pass my life consulting his shelves and deciphering his
papyrus." l Of this storehouse of knowledge the deputy
from Bergues made constant use. In Circourt's papers,

1 A dig at Circourt's extremely illegible handwriting. Cf. Lacretelle,
op. cit., p. 44; also Georges Bourgin, Souvenirs d'une mission d Berlin, vol. 1,
p. xxv.

• • 12 • •

THE CHAMPION OF ABUSES— HOME LIFE

now preserved in the Bibliotheque nationale at Paris,
quantities of notes from Lamartine are to be found asking
information and data for his speeches on an infinity of
subjects, political, economic, legal, metaphysical, social,
historical, and literary. Even the most Olympian of the
orator's eloquent harangues are found to contain crumbs
of the terrestrial learning of this "human encyclopaedia."
As will be seen later, Lamartine, on his accession to power
in 1848, confided to Circourt the difficult and delicate
task of a diplomatic mission to Berlin. Meanwhile, a
Legitimist by family tradition, like his illustrious friend,
Circourt was gradually turning towards the enlightened
Liberalism the honestly constitutional elements of the
July Monarchy were determined to uphold.1 "M. de
Circourt," wrote Lamartine after the Revolution of 1848,
"sans etre republicain de cceur, etait assez frappe des
grands horizons qu'une republique francaise, eclose du
genie progressif et pacifique de la France nouvelle, pou-
vait ouvrir a l'esprit humain, pour la saluer et la servir." 2
Cavour, who was an intimate friend of the Circourts, and
whose correspondence with the Countess covers a period
of many years, in no wise shared their enthusiasm for the
poet-politician.3 The great Italian statesman, in those
early years an observant frequenter of the political world
in London and Paris, had many opportunities of meeting
the Lamartines in Madame de Circourt's salon. The his-
torical houses whose hospitality had been boundless dur-
ing the Restoration closed their doors after the advent of
the Bourgeois Monarchy in 1830. Madame Recamier
still received at the Abbaye-aux-Bois; but there Chateau-
briand was god, and his literary worshippers outnum-
bered the purely political element. As Madame d'Agoult

1 Cf . Huber Saladin, Le Comte de Circourt ; also, Lamartine, Memoires
Politiques, vol. ill, p. 158.

2 Cf. C. Nigra, Le Comte de Cavour et la Comtesse de Circourt, pp. 48-62.

3 Ibid., p. 159.

. . 13 . .

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

(Daniel Stern) complained on her return to Paris in the
late thirties, four foreigners now monopolized the field
wherein her compatriots had so long held undisputed
sway: the Princess de Lieven, Madame Swetchine, Ma-
dame de Circourt, and the Princess Belgiojoso — three
Russians and an Italian; l to whom might have been
added Mrs. Lee-Childe, whose status as an American
gathered round her for many years Legitimists, Organ-
ists, and Imperialists alike, and who rubbed shoulders
with the fine fleur of the literary and artistic, the political
and scientific, worlds for over a generation.

But brilliant as was the life he led in Paris, Lamartine
was never so happy as when he dwelt in one or the other
of his rustic chateaux on the countryside of Macon.
Here, during the summer at Saint-Point and the autumn
and early winter at Monceau, husband and wife dis-
pensed a simple hospitality combining Anglo-Saxon cor-
diality with Gallic enthusiasm. Madame de Lamartine,
while she retained a certain inherent reserve of manner,
had adopted many of the traits of her husband's na-
tion. "She assimilated," says Lacretelle, "our mode of
thought ; expressing herself with an accent that daily be-
came less marked." A neophyte at the time of her mar-
riage, she had embraced with the zeal of the convert the
most minute details of the Catholic dogma. More versed
in orthography and the intricacies of French grammar
than her illustrious husband, strange as it must appear,
Lamartine confided to her the correction of his proof-
sheets.2 Shocked at the growing philosophic tendencies
in the writings submitted to her, she sought at first, by
all the resources at her disposal, to attenuate the lapses
from orthodoxy which were ever more apparent. Gradu-

1 Mes Souvenirs, p. 353. For the salon of Madame de Belgiojoso, cf.
Whitehouse, A Revolutionary Princess.
' Lacretelle, Lamartine et ses amis, p. 10.

• • 14 • •

MADAME ALPHONSE DE LAMARTINE

THE CHAMPION OF ABUSES— HOME LIFE

ally, however, she inclined to the spirit rather than the
letter of the creed she had adopted, although the criti-
cism to which her husband's so-called heresies gave rise
distressed her to the end. Prompted by admiration and
a sense of duty, she accepted with greater complacency
the militant republicanism of later years, although her-
self by birth, breeding, and conviction a stanch adher-
ent to patrician principles. Madame de Lamartine has
been accused of literary prudery: "Elle voulait," ob-
served one of her friends, "a tout prix vetir Eve en depit
de la Bible." Charles Alexandre, another close friend and
secretary during the later years, describes in his "Sou-
venirs" the modification she insisted upon when revising
the final edition of " La Chute d'un Ange. " "Nous faisons
un massacre," lamented Alexandre; "nous abattons des
centaines de vers dans cette foret vierge de 'La Chute
d'un Ange.' Lamartine ignore le crime; elle m'a supplie
de garder le secret. Je suis son complice d'epuration, en
protestant, en defendant le droit de cette poesie ante-
diluvienne." * Lamartine yielded under protest, but he
yielded. "It was superb yesterday," he wrote Dar-
gaud when forwarding one of his metaphysical articles.
" I spoilt it this morning in deference to the wishes of my
wife." 2 "Madame de Lamartine," wrote another critic
and personal friend, Madame Emile Ollivier, "who was
so nobly devoted to the man, understood far less his
genius. Possessed of a lofty and righteous character, but
narrow and primed with exotic prejudices, her literary
prudery discountenanced any audacity of thought or
form." 3 No woman could have been more completely
attached to her husband: her acceptance of the evil
times which overtook the couple during the last years of

1 Charles Alexandre, op. cit., p. 368.

* Cf. Madame £mile Ollivier, Valentine de Lamartine, p. 22.

* Op. cit., p. 20; cf. also Armand Lebailly, Madame de Lamartine, p. 48.

. . 15 . .

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

their wedded life was remarkable for its cheerful resigna-
tion. And yet, if those who knew them most intimately
are to be believed, perfect harmony never fully existed
between them. The memory of "Elvire" (Madame
Charles) rose as a ghost before the eyes of the wife,
whose retrospective jealousy was never completely
calmed. As Charles Alexandre noted: "Associee comme
elle l'6tait a un grand homme dont elle admirait le genie
plutot qu'elle ne partageait les idees, au fond de ce
menage, il y avait une dissonance intime, constamment
sauvee par des efforts reciproques de douceur et de
bonte." «

The loss of their two children made a stay at Milly
painful to both parents. Lamartine loved the humble
manor-house on account of the associations of his child-
hood, and above all because it had sheltered all through
her married life the mother whose memory he cherished.
"Milly, c'est l'Himalaya de mon bonheur!" he confided
to Lacretelle as they approached the village on the occa-
sion of the young secretary's first visit.2 But Milly was
a sepulchre: the tomb where lay enshrined the most
sacred reminiscences of a past forever dead ; the joys and
hopes of youth together with the ashes of the childish
creed he had lisped at his mother's knee. But aside from
sentimental considerations the house was totally inade-
quate to the requirements of an establishment such as
Lamartine now maintained. When guests from Saint-
Point or Monceau were taken to visit the dilapidated
homestead, it was to satisfy their literary curiosity con-
cerning the haunts of their host's childhood — scenes now
historic through the medium of the descriptive verses in
"Milly, ou la Terre natale," "La Vigne et la Maison,"
or, at a later date (1845), "Le Moulin de Milly."

1 Charles Alexandre, Madame de Lamartine, p. 44.

* Lamartine et ses amis, p. 36; cf. also Les Confidences, p. 66 et seq.

• • 16 • •

THE CHAMPION OF ABUSES— HOME LIFE

Lamartine has left us a picture of his days at Saint-
Point during these years (1835-38), which, when supple-
mented by that drawn by Lacretelle, may be taken as
typical. In his letter to M. Bruys d'Ouilly, which serves
as a preface to the " Recueillements poetiques," pub-
lished in 1839, the author answers the question so often
put him, how in the midst of his agricultural labours, his
philosophic studies, his travels, and the incessant turmoil
of his political duties, can he find time for poetry? No
translation could pretend to render the exquisite tender-
ness and pathos, the faultless style and poignant psy-
chological interest of this epistle — a chef d'ceuvre in
French literature. " Traduttore, traditore," as the Italians
say: and inevitably the translator must prove a traitor
in his fruitless effort to convey the rhythmic cadence of
this beautiful prose. Suffice it to say that before the
neighbouring church clock has slowly chimed the hour of
five, Lamartine, leaving his bed, weary of dreams, lights
his lamp and kindles the fire of faggots in the vaulted
tower chamber where he passes, in solitude, the long
hours of silence before dawn. It is November, and the
light autumnal frost creaks beneath his feet as he steps
for a breath of air upon the wooden balcony which over-
hangs the sleeping park. . . . On the old walnut writing-
table at which his father and grandfather had sat before
him, lie several books: a Petrarch, a Homer, a Virgil, a
volume of Cicero's letters, besides old copies of Chateau-
briand, Goethe, and Byron, poets and philosophers, and
close at hand the little edition of the "Imitation of Jesus
Christ," which had belonged to his mother, stained by
traces of her tears. . . . Holding nonchalantly a pencil
in his hand, the poet traces outlines of trees or ships
on the white sheet before him, awaiting the inspiration
the familiar scene evokes. . . . Some of these verses take
definite shape, others are consigned to the flames. These

. . 17 . .

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

hours, stolen from his municipal and political duties, be-
fore elections, the harvest, the vintage, or social obliga-
tions claim him, are the sweetest in his life of continual
activity. "The existence of the poet is renewed for a few
days," he writes. "You know better than anybody that
the poetical life has never at most formed more than a
twelfth of my real existence." "Le bon public qui ne
cree pas comme Jehovah l'homme a son image, mais qui
le defigure a sa fantaisie, croit que j'ai passe trente annees
de ma vie a aligner des rimes et a contempler les dtoiles;
je n'y ai pas employe trente mois, et la poesie n'a et6
pour moi que ce qu'est la priere, le plus beau, et le plus
intense des actes de la pens6e, mais le plus court et celui
qui derobe le moins de temps au travail du jour." !

"When the first bell for midday breakfast sounded,"
amplifies Lacretelle, "Lamartine hastily completed his
toilet, and joined his wife and guests in the small dining-
room on the ground floor of the chateau." As the master
of the house ate but sparingly, he preferred to slip into
his seat during the progress of the meal. He conversed
but little, his brain being still occupied with the morn-
ing's work. But if he noticed that his silence threw a
gloom over his guests, he immediately made the neces-
sary effort and joined in the conversation. His dogs
surrounded him, noisily claiming their share of the food
upon his plate. On rising from table Lamartine, his
pockets bulging with bread and sugar, hurried to the
stables where a dozen horses eagerly awaited the daily
treat. Lacretelle remarks that the occupants of Lamar-
tine's stalls were generally but sorry nags, yet each new
acquisition was, in the master's eyes, "an incomparable
treasure, worthy to be ranked with the Prophet's mare."
It is certain that Lamartine considered himself a judge

1 Preface of Recueillements poitiques, dated Saint-Point, December I,
1838.

• • 18 • •

THE CHAMPION OF ABUSES— HOME LIFE

of horseflesh. We have only to consult his letters to
Virieu, whom he often charged with the purchase of his
steeds at Lyons, to appreciate the fact that he gave the
matter considerable thought. On leaving the stables La-
martine joined the ladies for coffee in a small summer-
house overlooking the valley, and plans were discussed
for the afternoon's driving and riding. Lamartine was
no sportsman, yet he often carried a gun ; not for game,
however, but in case he met a mad dog — a contingency
never known to occur. After an early dinner, the com-
pany adjourned to the salon on the floor above: Lamar-
tine joined in a game of billiards, or in the general con-
versation, and invariably, as nine o'clock struck, took his
candle and retired. Under his arm he carried Voltaire's
"Letters," a work he read and re-read incessantly, as he
did later Thiers's "History of the Empire." Half an
hour after the circle in the salon broke up, and the cha-
teau was wrapt in silence.1

At Monceau the tenor of daily life was somewhat more
varied. Owing to its proximity to Macon, a drive of
hardly more than a half-hour, visitors were more fre-
quent. For years a continual stream of all that was best
known in national and international society, men of
letters, women of fashion, artists, actors, poets young and
old, halted in the old Burgundian town, and turned off
the highroad, on their way from Paris to Lyons and Italy,
to visit the Lamartines at Monceau. M. and Madame
Dargaud were among the regular autumnal guests, as
were Louis de Ronchaud (whose admirable revision of
the final edition of Lamartine's complete works is appre-
ciated by all lovers of the great poet's genius), and M. and
Madame Adam Salomon, the former a sculptor of note,
the latter an associate of Madame de Lamartine in her
charitable enterprises. To these must be added Edmond
1 Cf. Lacretelle, op. cit., pp. 26-32.
. . 19 . .

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

Texier, a journalist and litterateur, whose translation of
"Uncle Tom's Cabin" (1854) did much to advance the
anti-slavery cause in France. Nor must we forget such
intellectual stars as De Tocqueville and the De Girardins,
husband and wife : the former the founder and proprietor
of the influential newspaper "La Presse," the latter the
divine "Muse de la Patrie," the poetess and writer over
whose pseudonym, Le vicomte Charles de Launay, ap-
peared, from 1836 to 1848, the witty "Lettres pari-
siennes," the like of which had not been seen in France
since Madame de Sevigne, and whose style recalls that
of Addison and Steele, and the "Spectator" at its best.
Alfred de Vigny, Liszt, George Sand, the "Sanscrit
Baron" Eckstein and his wife, the D'Esgrigny; Vignet,
Virieu, and Bienassis, those friends of youth to whom
Lamartine clung ever more closely as the years rolled by ;
and the Abbe Cceur were faithful visitors. Add to these
the entire countryside within a radius of twenty miles,
and the very considerable family connection, and it will
be seen that while at Monceau the poet and his wife were
rarely alone.

As President of the Conseil General of the Department
of Saone et Loire, a dignity conferred upon him by an
overwhelming majority in 1836 (seventy-two votes out of
a total of seventy-five),1 Lamartine was constrained to
receive his colleagues and influential local politicians, and
discuss with them provincial affairs. That Lamartine and
the advanced liberal portion of the Conseil G6neral which
followed him were not in harmony with the Prefect of
the Province has already been hinted at. M. de Bar-
thelemy has been cited in these pages as hostile to the
deputy from Bergues, whose influence in his native de-
partment was ever increasing. "In the Council," writes
this official, "he had attributed to himself a specialty,

1 Correspondan.ee, dcxlii.
. . 20 • •

THE CHAMPION OF ABUSES— HOME LIFE

the protection of foundlings, a subject which prompted
every year the delivery of a magnificent and touching
speech, which, and I do not exaggerate, inevitably
brought tears to the eyes of seven or eight of his col-
leagues." ! Lamartine would not appear to have viewed
in the same light as did the Prefect the financial disad-
vantages of the policy he advocated when dealing with
these poor foundlings. At any rate, his opinion was
diametrically opposed to that of the representative of
the Central Government, who expressed himself deeply
shocked by the immorality of Lamartine's defence of
the unfortunate girl-mothers, the guardianship of whose
offspring had become onerous to the State. The subject
was one which must deeply interest so ardent an apostle
of social reform. Lamartine had, indeed, made the equit-
able solution of this vexed problem one of the aims of his
public life, and lost no opportunity of pressing his ob-
jections to the new policy the Government advocated.

In accordance with the legislative decrees of 1811,
foundlings were adopted by the State, and placed under
the guardianship of the directors of specially organized
institutions. Each arrondissement, or political district,
was provided with such an asylum, and in each asylum
there existed a species of turnstile, so arranged that the
mother, desiring to abandon her infant to the care of the
institution, could do so from outside the building with-
out being seen. A bell connected with the device notified
those on watch inside that a new inmate claimed ad-
mission. As soon as possible the child was sent to a nurse
in the country, the State paying for its maintenance
during the first six years of its life. Between the ages of
six and twelve the allowance was reduced, and after that
age no further expense was incurred, although the direc-
tors of the asylum still exercised surveillance over the

1 Souvenirs d'un ancien Prefet, p. 202.
. . 21 • •

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

foundling and the family to whose care it had been en-
trusted. Every facility was given the mother to reclaim
her child should she desire to do so, and if the foster-
parents preferred that their charge seek service else-
where on the attainment of its twelfth year, every effort
was made by the asylum to keep in touch with its former
ward. As a matter of fact, the majority of these found-
lings remained in the peasant families who had given
them shelter, and married and settled down as useful and
respected members of the rural community where they
had passed their youth. The system worked admirably
on the whole; but inevitably abuses crept in, and were
seized upon by zealous economists and statisticians, as
well as self-appointed censors of public morality, to
discredit the humanitarian scope of the institution. In
many of the provinces the turnstile was abolished, as it
was asserted that inhuman parents, whose union was
perfectly legitimate, took advantage of the secrecy of the
device in order to free themselves of the expense of
rearing their offspring. Not content, however, with abol-
ishing the turnstiles, which screened the honour of many
a deceived woman, it was now proposed to leave the
foundling only temporarily with its foster-parents, and
according to the economic requirements of various dis-
tricts, to deport the children from one end of France to
another: in a word, publicly to declare them social out-
casts, thus lessening or destroying the chances of eventual
recognition by one or the other of the parents who, per-
haps, by reason of fortuitous circumstances, had been
compelled to separate themselves for a given period
from their offspring.

Although by so doing the regular chronological se-
quence of events is overlooked, it would seem opportune
to note here Lamartine's first public utterance — a truly
prophetic utterance ! — on this important social problem.

• • 22 • •

THE CHAMPION OF ABUSES— HOME LIFE

For four years previously he had periodically brought
forward the evil in the discussions of the Provincial Coun-
cil; but it was only on April 30, 1838, that he addressed
the meeting at the H6tel de Ville in Paris, in defence of
the laws of 181 1, which, in his estimation, were best cal-
culated, from the humanitarian as well as the soundly
economic point of view, to meet and alleviate a crying
social evil.1

Lamartine argued that, by making social outcasts of
thousands of abandoned children, the proposed laws en-
dangered the safety of society. Torn from the only homes
they knew, from associations which frequently held the
promise of a life of honest labour on the farms they had
inhabited from childhood, the foundlings must inevitably
drift to the great cities, there to swell the ever-increasing
elements of discontent and social unrest. In such sur-
roundings, without guidance, or even the semblance of
family ties, many would degenerate into criminals. The
loss of farmhands in the rural districts was an economic
consideration of great importance, and one which land-
owners, such as the speaker, could more adequately ap-
preciate than the theorists and moralists who deprecated
the present system. But a still greater evil stared the ad-
vocates of the repeal of the laws of 181 1 in the face. By
abolishing the turnstiles which mercifully mitigated the
shame of the distracted mothers, the unhappy victims of
man's selfish passions were incited to crime. The parent,
no longer able to confide her infant secretly to the ever-
watchful care of the asylum, found herself confronted by
three alternatives : the open acceptance of her shame and
a consequent career of vice; the abandonment of her
child in some secluded spot where it might perish from
exposure ; or infanticide. Lashing the political economists
who cloaked their avarice with sophistry, Lamartine ac-
1 Speech, "Sur les enfants trouv£s," April 30, 1838.
. . 23 • •

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

cused them of endeavouring to convince the taxpayer
that compassion was a mere seductive sentiment, and the
exercise of humanitarian principles a crime. The abuses
of the present system, it was claimed, amounted at most
to three or four per cent on a total of thirty-two thousand
foundlings. But in spite of the most careful and searching
enquiry extending over a period of four years, Lamartine
himself had been unable to substantiate a single instance
of the abandonment of their offspring by parents united
in legitimate wedlock. And after all, what was the paltry
economic consideration of such abuses compared with the
magnitude of the principles involved? A few francs might
be saved on the budget ; but the economy would be purely
fallacious.

"You will pay in vice, you will pay for gendarmes,
you will pay for police, you will pay for prisons, you
will pay for penitentiaries, for loss of population and by
increase of crime, sevenfold what you refuse to pay for
care and forethought. Condemn to social ostracism the
vast army of pariahs who have lost caste by no fault of
their own, and you sin not only against the fundamental
principles of Christianity, the initial precepts of the great
Revolution of '89, you commit a grave political error. It
is not by such conduct that revolutions are avoided : it is
by such actions that they are prepared. Nine hundred
thousand foundlings are at the present moment living in
your midst. ... I am not an enthusiastic fanatic of the
French Revolution; too much blood befouled it, and time
has not yet winnowed its crimes from its virtues. But if
it be possible to distinguish a dominant principle, and,
so to speak, the soul, of that great social movement, it
is most certainly the principle of Christianity; it is the
principle of mutual assistance, of human brotherhood, of
legal charity. One sees it flare up with each law framed
by the Constituent Assembly, and it shines even in the

• • 24 • •

THE CHAMPION OF ABUSES — HOME LIFE

darkness and storms of the Convention. Most assuredly
at that time had a legislator proposed to deport thirty-
three thousand children annually, to rend the affections
cherished in two hundred thousand households, to abolish
the turnstiles and close the asylums, such a one would
have been crushed under the indignation of his colleagues
and the maledictions of the people. At that time bar-
barous political laws were enacted, but mild and humane
social laws were framed. Why? Because if only the voice
of passion was heeded when political enemies were con-
cerned, the voice of nature was not yet smothered be-
neath the logic of interests and the sordidness of systems.
Then asylums and houses of shelter were multiplied ; the
guardianship of foundlings was vested in the State; or-
phans were adopted by the country. They carried out the
precepts of Saint- Vincent de Paul. They built up what
you destroy to-day."

The enthusiasm of his audience waxed with the perora-
tion of this impassioned address.

" Do not throw back into the jaws of vice or death these
children which shame or misery confides to you," he
pleaded. "A society which has no use for man; a social
body which fails to regard man as its most precious asset ;
which receives man on his entrance to life as a scourge and
not as a gift, and which protects property only at the ex-
pense of morality and nature, such a social body will meet
its judgment. Our eyes must be turned away from such."

Although only partially effectual, in so much as it re-
tarded definite legislation until May 5, 1869, Lamartine's
vigorous attack on the proposed innovations has been
dwelt on at length as typical of his espousal of the inter-
ests of the humble and disinherited classes of society. All
of the man, all of the social reformer, the utopist as well
as the common-sense politician, can be found in this gen-
erous outburst. Scoff as selfish economists might at his

. • 25 • •

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

"championship of immorality," his "admiration of girl-
mothers," 1 none could doubt the lofty sentiment of hu-
manity which prompted his eloquence. Time has proved
the validity of his arguments in favour of utilizing for
the public weal the outcasts who, unredeemed, must con-
stitute a danger to the social fabric.2 The enormous in-
crease of crime in France to-day — crimes in the vast
majority of cases attributed to the homeless degenerates
of the floating urban population — could have been
checked had the letter of his recommendations been fol-
lowed. And yet Lamartine himself raises a doubt in our
minds as to the absolute sincerity of the convictions he so
eloquently professed. It is certainly disconcerting to read
in his "Memoires politiques" (written over twenty years
later) phrases such as the following: " I needed practice in
the tribune, where practice alone perfects, in order to
acquire, together with the faculty of inspiration, a certain
amount of recognition in a land which idolizes eloquence,
so that when the unknown moment arrived that I should
have need and opportunity of a hearing, I should not find
myself forgotten. In consequence I devoted myself, not
at all by preference, but by necessity and design, to the
treatment of purely neutral humanitarian and specula-
tive problems, such as those concerning foundlings, the
death penalty, popular economics, the salt-tax, solitary
confinement, etc., etc." 3

That Lamartine would have preferred to occupy him-
self exclusively, and from the outset of his political career,
with the great questions affecting national and interna-
tional polity, there can be no doubt. As we know, how-
ever, his peculiar standing forbade such action. Never-
theless, the above amounts almost to a disclaimer of a
line of conduct which had won for him popular recogni-

1 Souvenirs d'un ancien Prtfet, p. 204.

* Cf. speech on same subject, July 15, 1839. ■ Op. tit., vol. 1, p. 321.

• • 26 • •

THE CHAMPION OF ABUSES— HOME LIFE

tion, and the admiration of many men whose political
and social principles were not invariably in accord with
those he professed. But to read in this explanation a cyn-
ical repudiation of the generous spontaneity of his enthu-
siasms would be totally to misjudge both the man and his
actions. The confession is perhaps an unfortunate one;
but the nobility of purpose of his social propaganda is in
no wise clouded or diminished by the frank acknowledg-
ment of the ulterior objects he had in view.

From the protection of abandoned infants to that of
beet-root sugar the step is almost from the sublime to the
ridiculous. " Je viens de sortir du sucre avec honneur et
bonheur," Lamartine wrote Virieu on June 3, 1837.1 The
matter was one which affected closely the economic inter-
ests of his constituents in the North, where the beet-root
sugar industry was assuming vast importance. Hitherto
the native product had been free from direct taxation;
but the competition was weighing heavily upon the plant-
ers in the colonies, who found the market more and more
restricted with the increase of cultivation and improved
industrial machinery at home. The importation of cane
sugar was seriously affected, and the public revenues suf-
fered in consequence. To remedy this inconvenience the
Government proposed a reduction of the tariff on colonial
sugars ; the loss to the Treasury to be counterbalanced by
a tax on the home production. Keenly alive to the injus-
tice done the colonists, and yet equally desirous of pro-
tecting the interests of his constituents as well as those
of the treasury, Lamartine sought a middle course which
might reconcile all parties to an inevitable sacrifice. In a
letter to Virieu, he states that no question is more famil-
iar to him than the one of which he treats, and that he has
converted most of his adversaries to the necessity of di-
rect taxation on the home product.
1 Correspondance, dclii.
• • 27 • •

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

Diplomacy was needed. In a conference with forty-
two of the largest manufacturers of beet-root sugar in his
electoral district, Lamartine, his resignation as deputy in
one hand and his conditions in the other, was successful
in demonstrating that the true interests of the manufac-
turers lay in the acceptance of taxation. The immunity
and privileges enjoyed by the home producers were mani-
festly unfair, he urged : concessions were unavoidable, for,
should the Government decide to place colonial sugar on
the free list, the native industry would be seriously if not
ruinously affected. Of two evils they must choose the
lesser. In his speech in the Chamber a week previously,
Lamartine had expressed his unlimited faith in the mag-
nificent future awaiting the development of the beet-root
industry. Even now, given equal fiscal obligations, the
producers in the North could compete profitably with
the colonial planters. But if they insisted on the main-
tenance of their privileged immunity, and the govern-
ment, constrained to make equitable concessions to the
colonials, reduced by say twenty per cent the tax on
imported sugar, another element of competition loomed
before them. It was a recognized fact that the colonies
were now producing the maximum permitted by the
labour conditions existing in the islands. Reduce the rev-
enues of the Treasury by twenty per cent, and the deficit
might be made up by encouraging the importation of for-
eign sugars. The beet-root industry must inevitably col-
lapse in face of this double competition. "We have the
right to impose a tax on beet-root sugar," Lamartine
urged his colleagues in the Chamber. "We need the funds.
Let us tax it ; but let us tax it with moderation so as not
to kill but to foster an industry yet in its infancy, but of
incalculable promise." x That he spoke by the authority
of his constituents is confirmed by a phrase in the above-

1 May 26, 1837.
. . 28 • •

THE CHAMPION OF ABUSES— HOME LIFE

cited letter to Virieu: "After two hours' discussion they
saw that I understood their business better than they
did themselves ; they acknowledged it, and unanimously
signed formal instructions to vote and to speak in favour
of the tax."

Well might Lamartine congratulate himself on the suc-
cessful issue of an embarrassing situation. He had gained
a moral victory without alienating the confidence and
sympathy of the vested interests at whose cost it had
been obtained. Moreover, his solicitude for the interests
of the humble consumer added to his growing popularity
with that class of the public which stood outside the
Council Chamber.

CHAPTER XXXIII
PARLIAMENTARY PROGRESS

It is, of course, impossible to follow in detail Lamar-
tine's parliamentary progress — his speeches fill six large
volumes, and were frequently but of temporary interest.
Others, on the contrary, indicate the general trend of the
gradual evolution of his political and social conviction,
and cannot be passed over in silence. Examples have
been given of the social and economic principles he sought
to defend at this period. During this same session of 1837
Lamartine was to give proof of a political acumen of no
mean calibre. It will be remembered that in October,
1836, Prince Louis-Napoleon, then an exile in England,
allowed himself to be convinced that the army could read-
ily be persuaded to espouse his cause, and that the em-
pire his uncle had possessed could practically be his for
the asking. The lamentable fiasco at Strasbourg was the
result. Pardoned by Louis-Philippe after his arrest, the
misguided pretender was banished to America, and his
military accomplices, tried by a civilian jury strongly
imbued with Bonapartist sympathies, were one and all
acquitted. This judicial scandal, as it was appropriately
termed, brought universal reprobation on a procedure
offering such flimsy guarantees for the dignity of estab-
lished order.

Early in the following session the Government intro-
duced a bill which provided for the separation of the
civil and military jurisdictions when officers and soldiers
were implicated with civilians in plots affecting the safety
of the State. This "Law of Disjunction," as it was called,
gave rise in the Chamber to violent opposition on the part

. . 30 . .

PARLIAMENTARY PROGRESS

of a coalition of the Extreme Right and Extreme Left,
and to an interminable wrangle between the great legal
authorities who sought to invalidate or uphold the meas-
ure. Lamartine defended the Government with an im-
passioned eloquence, tempered by strong common sense,
such as he had never before displayed. "Don't believe
that I desire to be made Minister or that I seek an Em-
bassy, as I am accused of doing," he wrote to his friend
Dubois. "Je ne veux que la liberte des citoyens et la
ferme discipline de 1'armee, sans laquelle point de li-
berte." * Little sympathy as he felt for the Government,
he was determined to "support a Cabinet composed of
honest men against the Thiers Ministry and its shameful
associates." But whatever his individual sympathies,
Lamartine clearly recognized the fact that opposition to
the proposed measure meant imperilling the constitu-
tional liberties he was determined to uphold at any per-
sonal cost. "I spoke day before yesterday for two hours
and a quarter in the midst of an inconceivable tumult,"
he informed Virieu,2 and he adds that although at times
confused, he was never crushed, and kept his head
throughout the uproar his speech provoked.

His utterances were, in truth, of a nature to inflame
the partisan passions seething beneath the principles in-
volved. All shades of honest opinion, he maintained,
must shudder at the scandal of the triumphant acquittal
of those concerned in an armed rebellion against the flag,
against discipline, and against the country. It was not his
intention to criticize the verdict; but he was in honour
bound to absolve the Government of participation in this
shameful denial of justice, and to uphold the motion
brought before the Chamber for the disjunction of civil
and military jurisdiction where such outrages were con-
cerned. It was a sophism to pretend that the Govern-

1 Correspondance, dclxv. 2 Ibid., dcxliv.

. . 3, . .

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

ment in liberating the principal culprit had violated in the
eyes of the jury and the country the sacred principle of
the equality of all citizens before the law. Louis-Napo-
leon was an exile, a proscript, and as such owing no alle-
giance to France : he stood on a different plane than those
who enjoyed the privileges of citizenship and had sworn
fealty to their country's institutions. The Government
had punished this offender by means of the only law it
could apply, that of banishment. There was, he insisted,
no parity, no assimilation possible between a simple citi-
zen who is invested with no public function, charged
with no responsibilities, and a military commander who,
making use of the bayonets at his disposal, may con-
spire against the State and endanger the lives of his
fellow-citizens, provoke civil war, and establish military
dictatorship. In the one case the offender should be
amenable to the jurisdiction of the civil courts, but in the
second, courts-martial alone should try and condemn.
The criminal judicial leniency they had just witnessed
must serve as a warning of the peril the future held.

With prophetic eloquence he denounced the tendency
to inculcate in a military country such as France, too
easily fascinated and intoxicated with the glories attach-
ing to a fortunate despotism, the cult of a triumphant
past. Still so near the 18th Brumaire, and the 20th of
March, 1815, a Government as yet so insecurely estab-
lished ran great risks in educating the people's notions of
liberty by the continual display of the symbols of a glori-
ous but despotic rule. Was the Revolution of July to
serve as a pedestal for the Napoleonic apotheosis, and not
as that of the liberty of the people? Liberty was the
heart's desire of every Frenchman; but it was not yet
among their customs. The despotism of the sword might
all too readily pass through the breach they so carelessly
left unguarded. Three hundred thousand soldiers, in

. • 32 • •

PARLIAMENTARY PROGRESS

time of peace, were pledged to follow those under whose
command they were placed. "Si vous n'avez pas une
justice efficace pour prevenir les lois du sabre," he
warned, "vous ne serez pas longtemps un peuple libre." '
Nevertheless, the speaker, although recognizing the
necessity of the Law of Disjunction, was unprepared to
accept it in its proposed form as a permanency. "I ac-
cept it as a provisional measure," he stated, "as a legis-
lative coup d'etat, dictated by the breach made in the
country's institutions by the verdict of the Strasbourg
jury." Frequently interrupted from all sides of the
Chamber, contradicted and even vituperated, Lamar-
tine insisted on finishing his address in spite of the up-
roar. In view of the accusations levelled against him a
decade later, the closing sentences of this important
speech are of peculiar significance. "I repeat that the
country does not seek a revolution through violence, by
means of the sword, any more than it wishes to attain its
ends by means of street broils: I affirm that in speaking
as I do I interpret absolutely the popular sentiment. As
for myself, I declare that I am willing to be the victim
of the first assault of any revolution that I personally
provoked, incited, or desired: but with the same energy
I affirm that should my country be unhappily destined
to traverse fresh troubles, I prefer a hundredfold the
revolutions of anarchy to those of the barracks."

And in spite of the clamour to which this statement
gave rise, he proceeded to explain his preference for the
one rather than the other. Anarchy meant excess : side by
side with great crimes, resulting from them, in a sense,
great virtues and generous sacrifices often sprang: but
military revolutions, brutal and unreasoning, led only to
selfish ends, to the lowering and degradation of all the

1 La France parlementaire, vol. I, p. 300; also Thureau-Dangin, op. tit.,
vol. in, p. 162.

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

moral forces of a country. "Des Evolutions populaires,
le plus tard possible," he cried; "des revolutions mili-
taires, jamais." Reading the signs of the times as few of
his generation did, Lamartine, indeed, merited Talley-
rand's flattering assertion that he had penetrated the
heart of his country. Behind any government, without
exception, he foresaw, within "seven or eight years," a
"Sword" or a "Convention de proletaires." * If we sub-
stitute eleven for seven or eight, the prophecy was arith-
metically correct. Already this fact was being recognized
by the leaders and members of the numerous political
factions in Parliament, and the member for Bergues
found himself ever more frequently solicited to abandon
his isolation and join forces with one or the other of the
contending parties. It is hazardous to speculate as to
what the eventual effect on his political career might have
been had he listened to the blandishments and thrown in
his lot unreservedly with, say, Count Mole. "Lamartine
is a comet of which the orbit has not yet been calculated,"
said Alexandre von Humboldt. With a temperament
such as his, with ambitions such as he entertained, the
acceptance of a secondary r61e was impossible.

It was false modesty on his part to refer to himself
as an amateur in political debate,2 for already in 1837 he
had an exalted opinion of his gifts of oratory, and was
convinced that his career was to be a distinguished one in
Parliament. Never could he have subjected himself to the
discipline which the leadership of a great political party
imposes on chief and associates alike. The "comet" re-
mained independent of the solar system to which all well-
regulated astral phenomena are supposed to belong, and
its orbit can even now only be approximately calculated
by the laws of probabilities, aided by a close observation
of established facts. As a politician, as a parliamentarian,

1 Correspondance, DCL. * Ibid.

. . 34 . .

PARLIAMENTARY PROGRESS

and, when occasion served, as a member of a political
party, his usefulness was undeniable; but his own convic-
tions — for convictions (all opinions to the contrary
notwithstanding) he most assuredly possessed — out-
weighed, in every single instance of his career, the obliga-
tions dictated by party discipline or the enforcement of a
rigid party policy. As M. de Mazade has justly defined
him, Lamartine was a guest in all camps ; a volunteer of
genius in the melee of opinions ; an orator whose eloquence
charmed rather than convinced ; a man of daring presages,
swayed by tradition, yet an upholder of the established
order, now with the Opposition, now with the Govern-
ment; " in a word, a glorious dissenter," giving unqualified
allegiance to no cause and to no political group.1 As an
observer of the external and internal phenomena affecting
the social atmosphere of the revolutionary era he tra-
versed, his intuitions were often astounding. In a phrase
which grasped and held the imagination, he summarized a
whole situation. Often foreseeing what others could not
yet discern, as, for instance, the peril of a reawakening
of the Napoleonic epic and in his warnings concerning
the Law of Disjunction, he earned for himself the appel-
lation of vates, or soothsayer, as the Latins styled their
poets. His policies were misunderstood by his contem-
poraries; but his aspirations, then considered chimerical,
are commonplace realities to-day. He spoke for the fu-
ture, and the present has vindicated him.2

On October 3, 1837, M. Mole declared the measure
"indispensable," the Chamber was dissolved, and new
elections were fixed for November 4. Writing confiden-
tially to his agent in Burgundy, Lamartine states that
although he upheld the cabinet of conciliation formed by

1 Lamartine, p. 95.

2 Cf. speech by M. Paul Deschanel, President of the French Chamber, at
the celebration at Bergues on September 21, 1913, commemorating Lamar-
tine's election as deputy in 1833.

. . 35 . .

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

Count Mole on April 15 against the coalition headed by
Thiers, Guizot, and Odilon Barrot, he disapproved the
Government's action in dissolving the Chamber. The
Coalition, it will be remembered, reproached Count
Mole's administration with being unduly influenced by
the personal policies of Louis-Philippe.1 In 1793, Count
Mole's father and mother both perished on the scaffold,
and he himself, a youth of twelve, wandered alone and
unprotected about Paris. The future statesman, who
during his long and distinguished career was remarkable
for his social charm, his distinguished manners, his refined
habits, and cultivated tastes, struggled into manhood
dependent for many months for very existence upon the
casual charity of one of the worst parts of Paris. Recog-
nized and rescued, he was eventually consigned to the
care of a relation in the country.2 When he rose to power
his political past was the target for the violent and vitu-
perative shafts of his enemies. He was accused of having
written, under Napoleon, a eulogy of despotism, and of
having voted, on the return of the Bourbons, the death of
Marshal Ney. Lord Palmerston, alarmed at the apparent
tendency to withdraw from the pact existing between the
two countries, and to secede from the Liberal programme,
warned the French Premier of the consequences which
must attend such a policy.3 But in ordering new elections
M. Mole was above all desirous of attracting what may be
termed the conservative element to his banner, men an-
tagonistic to both M. Guizot and M. Thiers.4 The result
at the polls was to prove a deception. The Ministerial
Party found itself in the same predicament, having gained
nothing numerically, and perhaps even lost in prestige
by the fruitless tactics now so apparent to its foes.

1 Cf. Thureau-Dangin, op. cit., vol. HI, p. 131.

2 Cf. Lord Normandy, Journal of a Year of Revolution, vol. I, p. 284.

3 Cf. Bulwer, Life of Palmerston, vol. II, pp. 210-17.
* Thureau-Dangin, op. cit., vol. in, p. 213.

• • 36 • •

PARLIAMENTARY PROGRESS

Lamartine was himself confronted by a delicate and
difficult situation which caused him considerable embar-
rassment. "I am offered fifteen or twenty constituen-
cies," he wrote M. Dubois, at Macon, previous to the
issue of the decree of dissolution. "Deputies follow each
other begging me to accept, here and there, the certainties
they offer. Two circumscriptions in Paris have sent me
deputations, and I await another at noon to-day; but I
can neither accept nor refuse nor talk about it on account
of Macon." x Flattered as he must have been by the evi-
dence of the trust reposed in him, his preferences natu-
rally turned towards a representation in his native prov-
ince. Cluny, one of the electoral districts of Macon, and
within a stone's throw of Saint- Point, tempted him most.
"Cluny. . . . Voila ma vraie patrie politique," he confided
to M. Dubois, "ma place naturelle et solide." Although
gratitude towards the faithful Flemish electors at Bergues
prompted fidelity to the distant town which had been the
first to further his political ambitions, the triumph of
what he calls "la demagogie sale".2 in the recent local
elections both there and at Macon was causing him con-
siderable apprehension. M&con, he considered, had been
particularly harsh in its treatment of him in municipal
affairs, preferring a "noisy locksmith" to their dis-
tinguished fellow-citizen. Sadly he enumerates to Virieu
the sacrifices, both of money and of dignity, he has made
for his native town. "I have built roads at my own ex-
pense for forty thousand francs; I gave two thousand
francs during the cholera outbreak. This year I gave
twenty-five thousand francs' worth of books to the Town
Library, etc., etc. I walked at the head of the procession
of the Garde Nationale, etc., etc., etc." 3 But the par-
liamentary elections were still far off, and he hoped by a
long residence in the district to win back local supporters.

1 Correspondence, dcli. 2 Ibid., dcliv. ■ Ibid., dcliv.

. . 37 . .

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

By the end of June he settled down at the Chateau of
Monceau as more convenient for the canvassing in
Macon, and devoted himself energetically to the further-
ance of his candidacy.

M. de Virieu had remained a steadfast Legitimist, and,
himself holding aloof from all participation in public af-
fairs, severely criticized his friend's attitude towards the
existing regime. Unfortunately the letters from Virieu to
Lamartine have been lost or destroyed, but those of the
poet-statesman to his friend afford significant glimpses of
Lamartine's confidential sentiments concerning the even-
tual outcome of a policy he considered not only unpatri-
otic, but essentially detrimental to the interests of the
party to which his friend adhered with unswerving fidel-
ity. He could discern no door except that opened by an-
archy through which a Restoration might conceivably
enter, since the Legitimists, instead of transforming
themselves into conservatives, and reconquering the
moral administration of the country by virtue of a soli-
darity of order and interests, had assumed the attitude of
great political agitators constituting a live menace to the
interests of order. If they succeeded in awakening an-
archy, he maintained, not only would they as a party
perish, and established interests with them, but the an-
archy they had themselves provoked could be crushed
only by a military dictatorship or a foreign invasion.
Their only chance after the Revolution of July was to
assimilate their interests with those of the Nation: to
ignore the Government, if they liked, but never the
country at large.1

In this same letter there appear evidences of the faith
which Lamartine persistently entertained that he was
to play a great role in the political destinies of France. If
he had assiduously cultivated the great gifts he possessed

1 Correspondence, dclvii.
. . 38 • •

PARLIAMENTARY PROGRESS

it was with this object continually in view. Within the
last three years he had made giant strides ; he considered
himself now perfectly capable of taking his seat on the
Ministerial benches and successfully upholding in debate
the policy he advocated. " Je pense que la Providence qui
m'a permis d'acquerir l'instrument me donnera un jour
l'ouvrage; mais quand, comment, a quelle heure, pour
quelle idee? Je ne l'entrevois pas." The old parties were
dead; their resurrection was impossible: the future was
uncertain, for France knew not what she desired. With
his hand on the Nation's pulse, however, Lamartine never
doubted but that his hour must come; and that to him his
countrymen would turn to save them from the horrors of
anarchy and social annihilation. This was not the mere
presumptuous vanity of a genius who considered himself
indispensable to the salvation of the country. It was
founded on the conviction that to Democracy belonged
the future of France, and that to the man who realized
this fact, and was able to take advantage of the opportu-
nities offered, must belong the honour of guiding the ship
of State through the perilous cataracts destined to sweep
away the old order which the Revolution of 1789 had
irremediably undermined.

His objection to the conversion of the public funds was
based on the premise that by lowering the rate of interest
on National bonds the great landowners and capitalists
would be indirectly favoured at the expense of those pos-
sessing small holdings. The true prosperity of the coun-
try depended, he continued, on the economic axiom of the
progressive increase of small landholders, and the remu-
nerative investment of small savings in national rentes.
Privileges, of whatsoever nature they might be, were ab-
horrent to his ideas of equity. " Aristocratie des senti-
ments, des idees, des traditions, certes oui!" he admitted.
"Aristocratie des loisetdes proprietes excluant inevita-

. . 39 . .

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

blement les autres, jamais! Egalite et Justice sont un seul
mot : or Justice et Dieu c'est un seul mot encore. Done
democratic libre de la propriete." ' Unlike many a the-
orist, he practised what he preached. Himself a large
landowner he systematically facilitated and encouraged,
sometimes at immense personal pecuniary sacrifice, the
economic development of the small holdings which de-
pended on him, or looked to him for support.

He was no financier, although he considered himself a
capable man of business. His passion for land and the ir-
resistible temptation to increase his estates continually
were already embarrassing him and were to prove his
financial undoing. "I have bought too much, and kept
too large a portion of my family holdings," he confided to
Virieu in 1837.2 He had sunk enormous capital with the
assurance of proportionally large returns in the vineyards
at Monceau and elsewhere, and built new farms at Saint-
Point on which he counted for increased revenues. But
even now he realized that retrenchment for five or six
years would be necessary, and anticipated forced sales as
a possible eventuality. Nevertheless, with his habitual
optimism he counted on the coming vintage to extricate
him at least partially from his difficulties, and the mirage
of the Monceau wine-crops assumed fantastic propor-
tions.

But the scarcity of ready money could not be ig-
nored, and his pen was set to work to supplement the
insufficient income the soil yielded. " J'ecris des vers tous
les matins a la bougie pour gagner mon pain quotidien,"
he writes Virieu in October, 1837.3 Nor was the pecuniary
profit thus derived a negligible quantity in his domestic
budget. His publishers advanced large sums on the mere
promise of manuscript, certain as they were of their abil-
ity to recoup the outlay by the enormous sales his ever-

1 Correspondance, dclix. * Ibid., dclviii. * Ibid., dclix.
. . 40 • •

PARLIAMENTARY PROGRESS

increasing popularity commanded.1 But his needs were
insatiable, and the cost of his Paris establishment, and the
thousand and one incidental expenses of his political life,
added to the pecuniary embarrassments which were to
end in irretrievable financial ruin.

Meanwhile the elections, fixed, as has been said, for
November 4, occupied all his energies. Macon offered
him an almost certain victory in either of the two dis-
tricts, intra and extra muros, the constituency boasted of.
For reasons it is difficult to define Lamartine insisted,
before yielding the equally certain seat at Bergues, that
he should be given the assurance of a majority in both
electoral colleges.2 This apparently unreasonable pre-
sumption met with scant approval in Ministerial and
administrative circles, as it opened the door of the Cham-
ber to a candidate professing Republican principles.
Lamartine himself asserts that his sympathies were with
M. de la Charme, the Ministerial favourite and a personal
friend.3 But his actions do not uphold this contention,
although in a letter to M. de Barthelemy he states that he
will support M. de la Charme in recognition of the sixty
votes this gentleman's friends recently cast in his own
favour. At the same time he emphasized the fact that he
would not permit the use of his name in any polemics hos-
tile to M. Mathieu, assuring his correspondent that he
would publicly deny any such utterances attributed to
him.4 This appeared suspiciously akin to hedging for
popularity and prompted the indignant Prefect to an ex-
pression of the belief that the success of the Republican
was in no wise displeasing to Lamartine. The incident,

1 Lamartine is unjust when he accuses his publishers of extortion. Cf.
letter to Madame de Girardin, Correspondence, dclxxxiii.

8 Souvenirs d'un ancien Prefet, p. 206.

3 Correspondance, dclx: " Je vais . . . recruter pour Lacharme, mais son
absence et son inertie nous tuent inevitablement."

* Souvenirs d'un ancien Prefet, p. 210.

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

although insufficiently authenticated, is perhaps signifi-
cant as a straw pointing to the direction Lamartine's
political sympathies were following. It has, moreover,
further importance as demonstrating the influence La-
martine exercised in M. Mole's administration, since the
Prefect himself acknowledges that, distasteful as was this
double candidacy of Lamartine's to the Government, he
received instructions from headquarters to further the
poet's ambitions to the best of his powers.

The victory he had achieved was, indeed, calculated
to elate the reformer whose boast it was that he owed
no allegiance to any political party; who walked alone,
and loudly proclaimed his independence, refusing to give
pledges which might embarrass his liberty of action.
Well might he write triumphantly to Virieu, on Novem-
ber 6, 1837 : " I was nominated here yesterday deputy for
Macon, and half an hour later, deputy for Cluny (extra
muros), by the two electoral colleges of the district, all at
the same moment, in the same town, and in the same
spirit. In addition I am nominated unanimously at Dun-
kirk (Bergues), and I refused two other prefectly certain
nominations: that of Dunkirk-town and Lonhaus." *
This was, indeed, a flattering tribute to the success of his
policy, in more senses than one. It has been shown how
he previously disapproved the attitude assumed by the
Legitimist party since the establishment of the July
Monarchy. On the present occasion he is able to inform
Virieu, that, in so far as his own district was concerned,
the Legitimists "behaved divinely under his direction,
acting with loyalty, political acumen, and wisdom."
Feeble, even compromising, as their assistance must
have been, it could not be despised, for Macon was in
the grip of demagogues who looked with only moderate
confidence on the Ministerial candidate whom in 1834

1 Correspondance, dclxii.
• • 42 • •

PARLIAMENTARY PROGRESS

they had thrown out by an overwhelming majority (226
against 98). l Lamartine manifestly exaggerates when he
tells Virieu that in his native province "on m'a fait
violence. J'ai ete nomme en disant: 'Non ne me nommez
pas.'" 2 The fight was a hard one in the two districts of
Macon. Both his antagonists were men of advanced
opinions, of even revolutionary tendencies.3

Writing to explain why he had not chosen Bergues,
where his election had been unanimous, Lamartine tells
M. Debuyser: "Si j'opte pour Bergues, je mets deux
republicans a la Chambre." But it would appear that
in this instance, sincerely desirous though he was that
moderate conservative principles should prevail, he
placed personal considerations before political interests.
The temptation to represent in the Chamber the district
with which his family had for generations been promi-
nently associated was one which he could with difficulty
have withstood. Sentimentally his real political domicile
was Macon and its environs. As he wrote Madame de
Girardin: "Mon abdication de Dunkerque est pour moi
une affaire de cceur." 4 An affair of the heart in two
senses; for while eager to occupy the place at home he
felt was his by right, his heart was heavy at wounding the
faithful electors in the North, whose reproaches of in-
gratitude he apprehended. "II ne faut pas blesser des
amis politiques qui nous ont adopts et caresse quatre ans.
Je veux leur menager une transition, p6nible pour moi."

As a matter of fact he succeeded very effectually in
wounding deeply these same constituents in the distant
northern province. Unanimously elected at Bergues on
November 5, 1837, it was only on January 12 of the follow-
ing year that he announced to the Chamber his choice

1 Souvenirs d'un ancien Prefet, p. 208.

2 Correspondance, dclxii.

3 Cf. Lamartine's letter to Debuyser cited by H. Cochin, op. tit., p. 381.
* Correspondance, dclxiii.

. . 43 . .

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

of Macon (town), and the same day wrote to acquaint
his agent in the North of his decision. The shilly-shally
of this proceeding would seem unpardonable. On Novem-
ber 20, 1837, M. Randouin, sous-prefet of Dunkirk, had
written reproaching him with his neglect. "You have
no idea, Sir, of the painful impression made in the coun-
try by reason of your long silence and by the doubt which
has been aroused as to your option. ..." M. de Coppens,
Lamartine's brother-in-law, in vain sought to reassure
the aggrieved electors, stating that, in spite of appear-
ances, and the fact that their candidate had not even
acknowledged the receipt of the official communication
acquainting him of his unanimous reelection, a satisfac-
tory explanation would be forthcoming. A circular had,
indeed, been received in which Lamartine notified his
electors that he would shortly visit them in order to ex-
press his gratitude for the honour they had done him.
But its contents were vague, and gave no assurance of his
intention to accept or refuse the seat they offered. For
this reason the sous-prefet gives the following significant
hint: "If you come to take your place at the head of
your political family, your option in your hand, you will
be received with open arms, and in two words you can
dispel all this smoke ; but if, which God forbid ! you decide
to break with Bergues, I think you would do wisely to
postpone your visit to these same electors you have thrice
found faithful, and who have progressively increased
their confidence in you, and who have now sanctified
it by conferring upon you, in spite of deep dissensions, the
unanimity of their suffrages, and who would find their
constancy repaid only by a humiliating divorce. . . ."
And he finishes with the further warning: "A Macon,
votre retraite n'exciterait que des regrets, sans reproches,
il n'en serait pas de meme a Bergues." !

1 Letter cited by H. Cochin, op. cit., p. 422.

\ • • 44 • •

PARLIAMENTARY PROGRESS

Yet in spite of the resentment felt, a year later, on the
dissolution of the Chamber, advances were again made to
their former deputy, and Lamartine did not hesitate
to solicit afresh the confidence of the faithful upholders
of his policy in the circumscription of Bergues. Although
acknowledging that other departments had offered him a
seat, Lamartine protested his fidelity to the electors who
first facilitated his entrance into public life; adding
that were he not sincere in his desire to accept their
offer, he would never have permitted himself to solicit
their suffrages. But the spell was broken. Never again
was Lamartine to represent another district than that of
Macon.

Count Mole's expectations, that by an appeal to the
country the coalition formed against him would be broken
up, proved fallacious. The session of the new Parliament
opened on December 18, 1837, and it immediately be-
came evident that, far from strengthening his position,
M. Mole had lost prestige. M. Thiers appeared determined
to overthrow the Ministry he had upheld during the
previous session, joining hands with the Left in his at-
tacks against the personal influence of the King.1 The
unconstitutional and excessive share Louis-Philippe was
charged with having arrogated in the affairs of the State
was resented by a large majority composed of widely
differing political parties. Thiers was resolved to unite
these elements for the purpose of enforcing the maxim
that "the King reigns but does not govern," and to de-
fend parliamentary prerogatives against the encroachment
of the pretensions of the Crown.2 This offensive alliance,
celebrated in the history of the period under the name of
"Coalition," gathered under its banner leading members
of political parties between which it was difficult to under-

1 Cf. Thureau-Dangin, op. tit., vol. in, p. 219.

2 Cf. Louis Blanc, Histoire de Dix Ans, vol. v, p. 267.

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

stand sympathetic action. Doctrinaires such as M. de
Remusat, and Guizot himself, and Duvergier de Hau-
ranne (later the soul of the movement) allowed them-
selves to be persuaded by the eloquence of Thiers and
Berryer.

Lamartine was early at his post, and although at first
he took little direct part in the stormy debates, the weight
of his influence was soon to be thrown in support of
M0I6. In the elections for the Presidency of the Chamber
he received twenty-nine votes, and, although defeated,
this evidence of his growing popularity considerably
elated him. Communicating the fact to Virieu he ex-
claimed: "J'ai done trente hommes a moi a present
dans la Chambre, des 'socialistes.' " 1 And he adds: "The
pure Royalists are lost: they appeal to me, but I ener-
getically refuse: their colour would absorb my hue." 2
Lamartine had little personal sympathy for Louis-
Philippe, it is true, but he had infinitely less for the lead-
ers of the Coalition. Guizot represented to his eyes the
incarnation of Protestantism, a form of religious creed he
had from the cradle been taught to abhor.3 Thiers he de-
tested hardly less, for Thiers had frequently ridiculed
him as a "poet" and " Utopian," both in the Chamber and
in the press. For Count M0I6, on the contrary, he enter-
tained the highest personal regard, although not in com-
plete accord with his policies. It has been asserted that
in combating the Coalition, Lamartine was actuated by
sentiments of political jealousy. In a word, that the
movement stole a march on him, occupying positions on
which he had hoped to establish himself. We know that
he sought an alliance between Right and Left in hope of

1 He includes himself in this number. It should be remembered that the
term "socialist" had a very different meaning in 1837 from what it has
to-day.

* Correspondence, dclxvi.

1 Cf. Jean des Cognets, La Vie intfrieure de Lamartine, p. 296.

. . 46 • •

PARLIAMENTARY PROGRESS

a common conservative and reformatory action. The
Coalition realized the same aim of political union, but to
the profit of a destructive and almost revolutionary Op-
position, seeking to impose on country and Crown alike a
selfish parliamentary tyranny, in which Thiers would fill
the role of a Napoleon of the rostrum, or a Cromwell.1 It
was the chiefs, and not altogether the fundamental prin-
ciples of the Coalition, which were distasteful to Lamar-
tine. Again, in upholding Mole, he rid himself in the eyes
of public opinion from the supposed Legitimist aspira-
tions which, in spite of all his previous efforts, he was ac-
cused of entertaining, while he proved to the Orleanists
that he was not an irreconcilable foe to the existing regime.
Could he detach the followers of Guizot and Thiers by
proving to them the dangers to society their action en-
tailed, and at the same time enrol the elements faithful
to Mole under the banner of Reform, the ambition he
had caressed from the outset of his political life (the
formation of a party acknowledging his leadership)
might be realized, and an opportunity might thus be af-
forded to put in practice the principles of the "Politique
rationnelle."

Dargaud had discussed the situation very minutely
with Lamartine. This "alter ego" of the poet-philosopher
was himself no irreconcilable antagonist to the July Mon-
archy, and counted many friends amongst the Organ-
ists.2 It is not improbable that he would have welcomed
a political rapprochement with the dynasty in power,
which would pave the way to his friend's accession to
ministerial honours. Louis- Philippe, if not openly hostile,
was deeply aggrieved by Lamartine's refusal to ally him-
self with the destinies of the Orleanists. On the other
hand, Lamartine, as we know, entertained no personal
animosity towards a family which had shown his mother
1 Cf. Des Cognets, op. cil., p. 297. 2 Ibid., p. 299.

• • 47 • •

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

and grandparents kindness and generosity. "You know,"
he wrote M. de Latour in 1836, "that, politics entirely
aside, these recollections and the gratitude flowing from
them form a heritage which I cannot ignore. I should
indeed be grieved if my sentiments were mistaken where
you are. Do me the favour to correct such impressions
whenever you hear them expressed. They have nothing
in common with my parliamentary action." '

But Louis- Philippe, while respecting the scruples which
had dictated Lamartine's resignation from the diplo-
matic service after the Revolution of 1830, could neither
forgive nor overlook the humiliating aloofness which the
deputy affected even when supporting policies favour-
able to the maintenance of the throne. "If ever M. de
Lamartine is his Minister," wrote Cuvillier-FIeury to the
Due d'Aumale, "it will be an absolute proof that the
King was not free to choose." 2 Did Lamartine, when
upholding a Ministry so dear to the Crown as that over
which Count Mole presided, hope to disarm the personal
antagonism of the King? While it would be rash to dis-
miss such a hypothesis as entirely groundless, there would
hardly appear to be sufficient foundation for its uncon-
ditional acceptance. It is certain, however, that Lamar-
tine was convinced in his own mind that his election as
Count Mole's successor, much as such a choice might
displease Louis-Philippe, would be made necessary in
view of the parliamentary situation created by the fall of
the Ministry. Dargaud affirms that such an eventuality
was by no means improbable,3 and M. Ren6 Doumic has
recently (1908) published a letter from Lamartine to
M. de Montherot, which lends substance to the conten-
tion. "My parliamentary position is becoming infinitely

1 Correspondance, dcxxxi. M. de Latour was tutor to the Due de Mont-
pensier, and a close friend of the royal family.
1 Letter cited by Des Cognets, op. cit., p. 300.
1 Cf. Des Cognets, op. cit., p. 299.

. . 48 • •

PARLIAMENTARY PROGRESS

greater. I gauge it by the tireless efforts all parties make
to enrol me at any price. There is nothing that one or
the other has not offered me." But he adds: "Before I
would be willing to assume power, circumstances must
be such as to guarantee me a perfectly clear field. . . .
It is necessary that the 'Question of July,' a question of
honour for us, be buried a hundred feet under ground, and
be so entirely obliterated that we no longer give it a
thought." 1

At the outset of his campaign against the leaders of
the Coalition, Lamartine traversed a period of bitter dis-
couragement. Not that faith in his own powers was
lacking; but he despaired of impressing his colleagues with
a sense of the forces he held in reserve. "I am neither
understood nor heeded by them," he complains to Virieu,
"and I do not exercise the natural ascendancy propor-
tionate to the effort I expend. Yet, there is within me such
invincible impulsion, that I strive continually while
often failing. It is very painful ; for I am like a man speak-
ing a strange language to foreigners, and who consumes
his energies only to be misunderstood." 2

1 Revue des Deux Mondes, September 15, 1908. "Mais il faut pour cela
que la question de Juillet, question d'honneur pour nous, soit foulee a cent
pieds sous terre, et tellement disparue qu'on n'y pense plus."

2 Correspondance, dclxvii.

CHAPTER XXXIV
AN ECLECTIC IN POLITICS

Intensely active as were his pursuits at this period
(1837), Lamartine was conscious, at times painfully
conscious, of "a something personal" lacking to fill his
life, and make it really worth living. " It is all philosophy,
religion, politics, poetry, business, tactics, wind, and
words," he confided to Virieu.1 Was it the void of his
domestic hearth he lamented? The loss of his daughter
Julia had deeply affected him; yet there would appear
reason for the belief that even had the child lived, she
could not have altogether filled the cravings his words
denote.

Rarely has a wife taken a more important place in
her husband's daily occupations than did Madame de
Lamartine. But communion of spirit, that intangible
bond which closely cements beings of widely dissimilar
intellectual calibre, was absent.2 "J'aurai une veritable
perfection morale," the youthful suitor had confided to
the Marquise de Raigecourt, eighteen years before; but
he had betrayed the lukewarmness of his feelings when
he added: "Je tache de me rendre le plus amoureux pos-
sible." 3

Passion he never pretended to have experienced for
Miss Birch, and although no shadow of conjugal infi-
delity darkens his married life, the memories of Madame
Charles were never to be effaced. Political ambitions
might absorb him, the struggle against impending finan-
cial disaster now harass, now spur him on to fresh liter-

1 Correspondence, dclxvi.

1 Cf. Madame Ollivier, op. cit., p. 20. 8 Correspondence, cexvu.

• • 50 • •

AN ECLECTIC IN POLITICS

ary endeavour,1 yet the gnawing emptiness of heart could
not be silenced. The blame, if blame there was, could
assuredly not be laid at the devoted wife's door. Unlike
the English consort of Lamartine's compatriot and friend,
Alfred de Vigny, Miss Birch had merged her individuality
with the racial peculiarities of the husband of her choice.2
That she was unable to supplant the associations of a
buried past is no proof of a lack of adaptability to the
psychic conditions she was called upon to face.

Whatever Lamartine's latent spiritual unrest, what-
ever the secret causes of his moral discontent, he threw
himself unreservedly into the vortex of public duties, de-
termined to lay the ghosts of past memories by an ever-
increasing application to the humanitarian aims he had
in view. When he espoused Count Mole's interests in
the fight against the Coalition which sought the destruc-
tion of the Ministry of Conciliation formed on April 15,
1837, he entered the lists with open visor, loudly pro-
claiming himself the champion of the menaced Govern-
ment, yet equally emphatically protesting his personal
independence of the Crown or the Cabinet. "Des que
j'eus pris pied sur ce terrain solide quoique mobile, je
sentis mes forces doublees." Lamartine believed that,
although the Ministers feared him and realized the
temporary character of the support he gave them, they
knew that but for his aid they must fall. Louis-Philippe

1 "I struggle painfully for a living," he wrote Virieu at the end of 1837:
"I am seeking a new arrangement with a publisher which will give me
100,000 francs and help me to exist four more years." (Correspondance,

DCLXVI.)

2 It will be remembered that the French poet, De Vigny, married Lydia
Bunbury. In his Journal d'un Polte, Vigny wrote (1844): "Les efforts sur-
naturels que feraient des Francais pour etablir quelque chaleur, quelque
mouvement dans les conversations entre eux, Francais, et des Anglais et
Anglaises seraient toujours perdus. C'est jouer de Varchet sur une pierre.
Ce qui manque absoluement a la race anglaise, c'est precisement ce qui fait
le fond de notre caractere, la gaite dans l'imagination, le mouvement dans
le sentiment." (Cf. op. cit., p. 171.)

. . 51 . .

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

greatly appreciated, we are told, this unexpected suc-
cour which Providence sent him. "What will you do
for Lamartine?" the King was asked by M. Fulchiron.
"What Ministry will you offer him in recognition of his
services and in order to encourage his allegiance?"
"Lamartine is not a Minister," replied the King; "La-
martine is in himself a whole Cabinet! ... I hold him in
reserve for the unknown days of supreme peril." * But
although Lamartine was determined never to serve per-
sonally a sovereign who had usurped the rights of another,
he was equally resolved to uphold the institutions the
country had of its own free will adopted, and to defend
the constitutional prerogative of the Crown to select
Ministers who shared equally the responsibilities as-
sumed by the Throne.2 This was to be the basis of the
support he lent Count Mol£, and from this fundamental
principle he never departed by a hair's breadth during
the long fight against the seditious tactics employed by
Thiers and Guizot, who sought to undermine the au-
thority of the sovereign they had welcomed to the throne.
That Lamartine's estimate of the services rendered the
Crown during the struggle which terminated in the vic-
tory of the Coalition is exaggerated, there would appear
little doubt. He could not save the colourless Mole Min-
istry; and subsequent events proved that, loyal as he was
in his support of the prerogatives of the Crown, the fate of
the dynasty itself gave him but slight concern. But his
influence with the Chamber during those stormy debates
was undeniable. M. Thureau-Dangin, the great histo-
rian of the July Monarchy, a critic systematically hostile
to Lamartine, writes as follows of his entrance into the
fray: "All the great orators were on the side of the Oppo-
sition; a single one had offered to the Ministerials an aid
immediately accepted with gratitude; it was Lamartine.

1 Memoires politiques, vol. I, p. 335. ' Ibid., p. 338.

. . 52 • •

AN ECLECTIC IN POLITICS

Till now isolated, lost, as it were, in the political world
into which he had wandered after 1830, his opinions con-
stantly buffeted by the winds of his imagination, at once
generous and personal, he had dreamed of playing an
immense role, and had not succeeded in filling even a
secondary one. An opportunity was offered this ambi-
tious man to assume at last the leadership of a party, the
knight-poet saw the chance of using the golden sword
of his eloquence in defence of the weak; Lamartine
grasped it with alacrity, making it clear, however, that
the combat over, he was free to follow his own path, to
adopt other clients in need of aid, to seek fresh adven-
tures." 1 True in its essence, this appreciation is per-
haps not strictly exact in the conclusion it foreshadows.
The sovereignty of his personal independence Lamartine
was determined to preserve at all costs.

Yet his action was not as quixotic as might be implied
by M. Thureau-Dangin's words. The chivalrous defence
of a weak Government was a mere incidental considera-
tion with him : he discerned in the course the leaders of
the Coalition were pursuing revolutionary tendencies
calculated to plunge the country once again in the throes
of civil strife. The conciliation of the warring political
factions he honestly believed might be achieved by the
party in power under his guidance. The elements were
good. "Tu peux planter et batir tant que le pays aura
cette Chambre," he optimistically wrote Virieu on
January 13, 1838. And he assures his friend that if
between the Republic and the present regime there is a
ditch to be crossed, before Legitimist restoration could
be effected there loomed the Republic and an abyss.2
This, the most ardent Legitimist would hesitate to face.

1 Histoire de la monarchic de Juillet, vol. in, p. 322; cf. also Doumic,
Revue des Deux Mondes, September 15, 1908, who agrees in substance.

2 Correspondance, dclxvii.

. . 53 . .

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

The two armies arraigned against each other comprised
practically all the elements of the Chamber. Alone the
Republicans of the Extreme Left, and the Legitimists
who occupied the benches of the Extreme Right, held
aloof, although, antagonistic as they both were to the exist-
ing form of government, their sympathy inclined rather
to the Coalitionists. Lamartine had as yet not openly
embraced M. Mole's course, and as a consequence his in-
fluence was sought on all sides. Flattered as he could not
help but be by the recognition of his worth, he was more
than ever determined to follow unswervingly the line of
action he had distinctly set down. Evidences of this fidel-
ity to his personal independence are everywhere appar-
ent. "Je suis tres ministeriel pour M. Mole," he wrote
Leon de Pierreclos,1 in April, "mais je lui ai d6clare que,
depuis une epingle jusqu'a un ministere, je n'accepterais
rien. Dites bien cela a mon pere pour qu'il ne croie pas
a ces bruits que la Chambre croit tout a fait." 2

A few days later, however, in reply to a question of Vi-
rieu's as to how he would act under certain conditions,
Lamartine outlines very faithfully the course he followed
ten years later, when the possibilities he foresaw became
realities. If conscientiously convinced, he averred, that
he could serve at once his country and his personal ideals,
and that he alone could save the situation, he would not
hesitate to participate with the Government under any
flag whatsoever. But before accepting such a task he
would require the evidence of God and man of the irre-
sistible necessity for such action.3 Again and again he

1 Concerning Lamartine's relationship to Leon de Pierreclos, M. Louis
Barthou has published {Revue de Paris, March i, I9i2)a very curious collec-
tion of private letters from which he draws conclusions, often suspected, but
never clearly established. Cf . " En marge des ' Confidences.' " That Lamar-
tine practically adopted this young man, who died in 1841, is known. After
his death Lamartine considered the young widow as his adopted daughter.
The question is of too delicate a nature to pronounce judgment here.

2 Correspondance, dclxxhi. 3 Ibid., dclxxiv, cf. also dcxxxvi.

. . 54 . .

AN ECLECTIC IN POLITICS

makes it apparent that he believes himself specially
designated by Providence to fill the role of saviour of
society in the great crisis he felt must inevitably occur;
and his whole parliamentary career is planned with this
object in view. Opposed as he was to the reigning dy-
nasty, it appears at first sight inconsistent on Lamartine's
part to support a policy which aimed at the maintenance
of royal prerogatives he considered usurped. If throw
his weight in the scales he must, the Coalitionist camp
seemed to offer advantages far greater than fidelity to
M0I6 could pretend to furnish. Selfish and personally
interested as such leaders as Guizot and Thiers might be,
they could hardly be classed as revolutionists in the ordi-
nary acceptation of the term. " L'anarchie est entree avec
vous dans cette Chambre, elle n'en sortira qu'avec vous,"
roared Guizot in the face of Mole during the session of
January 7 (1838), and blasting the servile attitude of
the Minister towards the pretensions of the Crown, the
furious orator applied to him the condemnation of Taci-
tus, "omnia serviliter pro dominatione." To which Mole"
coldly and bitingly remarked that Tacitus had hurled
the reproach not at " courtisans" but at those possessed
of overweening ambition. The barb rankled, for the per-
sonal animosity towards Louis- Philippe, which found
expression in the claims of the Coalitionists, was due to
the humiliated personal ambitions of leaders who re-
sented any show of independence on the part of their
royal proteg&.

That Lamartine could have no sympathy with a move-
ment that was based on the principle of personal aggran-
dizement is quite comprehensible ; but it is less clear why
he embraced so vigorously the defence of a Ministry
inclined to attribute to the Crown rather more extended
prerogatives than the most liberal interpretation of the
Constitution called for. Gratitude for the promulgation

. . 55 . .

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

of the amnesty which Mole offered as an earnest of his
desire for the cessation of sterile political strife, un-
doubtedly weighed heavily in favour of the Ministry of
Conciliation.1

Yet this was not sufficient for the abandonment of
the policy of isolation he had made his own. In spite of
his vigorous disclaimer, Lamartine must inevitably be-
come associated in the public mind with the principles
for which Count Mole gave battle : consequently the loss,
or tarnishing, of what he proudly termed his "purita-
nisme d'independance," was a consideration of importance
to one holding the eclectic political position he clung to.
This being the case, it would appear that he had little to
gain and much to lose in acting as he did. It has been
frequently advanced that the fundamental policy for-
mulated in the "Politique rationnelle," vague and hazy in
expression as it was, constituted the key-note of the
author's political conduct throughout his career. This is
undoubtedly so in the main. But a careful study of his
actions and motives in the present instance would seem
to indicate a temporary departure from the strict line
of conduct that a philosophical treatise prescribed. Cir-
cumstances alter cases: no human being can control or
guide the vital forces which swell and surge around us.
Every practical politician knows that an unvarying ad-
herence to the letter of a personal ideal is often not
only impolitic, but impossible. Throughout his life La-
martine was unflinchingly faithful to the spirit of his po-
litical ideals.

But this is begging the question. Why did Lamartine
decide for Mole rather than for the Coalition? Let us
first glance at the alternatives offered him (momenta-
rily setting aside that of the "splendid isolation" he had
hitherto maintained). Had Lamartine joined forces with

1 MSmoires politiques, vol. I, p. 334.
• • 56 • •

AN ECLECTIC IN POLITICS

the Coalition, there is little doubt that the fall of the
July Monarchy would have been hastened by nearly a
decade. Realizing the seditious tendencies of the prin-
ciples which actuated the Coalitionists, did not Lamar-
tine hesitate to face the responsibilities which must be
assumed? It will be objected that a few years later he
recognized the same peril, and yet himself contributed,
perhaps more than any single individual, towards pre-
cipitating the crisis. This is true ; but as with the meta-
physical, so with the political, a sharp and clear decision
was well-nigh an impossibility to him. How often in his
private correspondence do we hear him pleading that the
cup may not be presented to him ! A decision in the pres-
ent instance meant facing the Unknown. As in his theo-
logical discussions with Dargaud, he dreaded taking a
step calculated to compromise a programme the reali-
zation of which necessitated patient elaboration, and not
the seizure of fortuitous circumstance. On the other
hand, Count Mole's victory meant added life and strength
to the Monarchy founded on a usurpation. Distasteful
as this eventuality undoubtedly was, its acceptance
seemed inevitable. Despairing of the Legitimist cause,
convinced that France was not yet ripe for Republican-
ism, yet ever furthering the claims of Democracy, it
seems probable that Lamartine (in 1839) recognized the
existing regime as the only one affording reasonable
guarantees for the political stability requisite for the up-
building of the social reformation he had at heart. " J'ai
1' instinct des masses," he repeated on several occasions.
But the organization of the masses, if the excesses of the
inevitable revolution he foresaw were to be avoided,
demanded careful training for the liberties he was deter-
mined they should enjoy. Perhaps also personal ambi-
tion — in its most legitimate form, however — was not
altogether foreign to his support of Mole. His own words

• • 57 * •

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

justify the assertion that his confidence in Mole's states-
manship was not unlimited.1

Without aspiring to take the Premier's place, he might
assume that his own personal influence with a Ministry
he had saved from annihilation would be paramount.
The "splendid isolation," to which reference has been
made, had become irksome 2 in spite of the manifold ad-
vantages it presented amidst the confusion of parties.
But he could not hope to act alone: the cooperation of
men prepared to adopt, and aid him to carry out, the pol-
icies he had matured, was a sine qua non for the fruition
of his awaited triumph. Mole had insisted on the passage
of the Amnesty Bill : it was possible that further social re-
forms might be achieved through the same medium. The
ostensible grounds for the opening of hostilities were the
amended paragraphs of the Address affecting the for-
eign and domestic policies of the Government. But the
discussion rapidly degenerated into a series of individual
impeachments, accusing the Ministry in power of abuse
of constitutional prerogatives — accusations clearly dem-
onstrating the personal jealousies and ambitions of the
leaders of the Coalition. For twelve long days the con-
flict raged without respite. The heterogeneous compo-
sition of the Coalition added to the confusion of the de-
bate, which for violent vituperation has rarely been
equalled in parliamentary history. Again and again the
principles at stake were entirely lost sight of in the fury
of personal abuse and wholesale condemnation hurled
against the Ministry.

Contrary to expectations Count Mole rose to the
occasion and proved himself equal to the titanic task
which confronted him. Practically alone in his defence
of the Government, he welcomed with inexpressible relief

1 Mimoires politiques, vol. I, p. 333.

* Correspondance, dclxvii; letter to Virieu, January 13, 1838.

. . 58 • •

AN ECLECTIC IN POLITICS

the advent of Lamartine, who lost no time in plunging
into the midst of the melee.1

After a struggle with M. Thiers, who insisted on in-
terrupting his speech in spite of reiterated refusals by
the President to allow him the floor, Lamartine un-
equivocally attacked the Coalition, scathingly denounc-
ing the anarchy resultant from their unprincipled tactics.
"No, we shall not vote your Address," he thundered.
"Why? Simply because it is your Address; because
it is unconstitutional, and seeks to dislodge a Cabinet
you are more than any others unfit to replace." 2 Ac-
cusing the leaders of the Coalition of attempting to
break down authority, lower the prestige of the rostrum,
and degrade the principle of representative government,
the speaker nevertheless disclaims any intention of
making himself "the defender or the panegyrist of any
Cabinet." And forthwith he proceeds to qualify his ad-
hesion to the Government's policy in Switzerland and
Italy, of which, although recognizing the necessity, he
laments the methods. But in spite of criticism, of certain
personal reservations, Lamartine makes it very clear as
to where his sympathies lie, and boldly announces his in-
tention of supporting a Government of order against the
unwarranted attacks of an incongruous association of
interests, which can only lead to discredit and deception.
Had the adversaries of the Cabinet offered a programme
in conformity with the great principles of social progress
which he advocates, Lamartine assures them they might
have had his vote: but as the issue was merely one of
personal antagonism to the members of the Cabinet,
having in view no advantages for the country, his efforts
will be directed towards the maintenance of the order and
authority their action menaces. That Lamartine was

1 Histoire de la monarchic de Juillet, vol. in, p. 330.
8 La France parlementaire, vol. n, p. 140.

• • 59 • •.

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

sincere in his belief that Thiers and Guizot would stop
at nothing for the achievement of their selfish interests
is confirmed by his correspondence. Their aim, he be-
lieved, was to involve France in a war with Belgium, and
stir up revolution at home for the furtherance of their
own ends.1 Whatever the plans of Thiers and Guizot
may have been, they were certainly not prepared to go
to such lengths as these. Nevertheless, their allies of the
Extreme Left would scarcely have hesitated to dethrone
Louis-Philippe at almost any cost,2 for, as Lamartine
had hinted in his speech of January 10 (1839), the
11 marches simoniaques" existing between the hetero-
geneous components of the Coalition augured no good for
the safety of the country. In his third speech against the
amendment to the paragraph of the Address relative to
the approval of the general foreign policy of the Govern-
ment, Lamartine exposed the selfish ambitions of the
leaders of the Coalition, whose policy, if accepted, must,
in his estimation, endanger the peace, not only of France
and Belgium, but of Europe.3

1 In the course of this speech Lamartine let drop certain
personal appreciations of the Constitutional Left, which,
viewed in the light of previous and subsequent events,
afford interesting evidence of the direction his political
sympathies were following. Eight years earlier, Lamar-
tine, the reputed Legitimist, had assured Dargaud, the
advanced Liberal, that no deep abyss yawned between
their political creeds.4 Now, in the midst of the fierce
struggle, he paused a moment to pay homage to the
"great and generous love of liberty" professed by a party
who sought — or pretended to seek — the overthrow of

1 This he writes textually to Virieu ; cf . Correspondence, dclxxxix.

2 Letter from L. Faucher to M. H. Reeve cited by Thureau-Dangin,
op. cit., vol. in, p. 339.

• Cf. La France parlementaire, vol. n, p. 156.
. • Jean des Cognets, op. cit., p. 184.

• • 60 • •

AN ECLECTIC IN POLITICS

the Ministry he upheld. Yet he did not hesitate to laud
their efforts for the development of liberal institutions,
and to applaud the dignity of men who aspired to govern
themselves by the aid of reason and untrammelled dis-
cussion, terminating his remarks with the assertion that
he would not fear to see such a party in power, although
he recognized the fact that as yet they did not enjoy the
confidence necessary for a successful government.1 We
may well believe that such words created a sensation in
the Chamber, and even displeased the party he sought
to propitiate, for he made it clear that they had sold
themselves, together with the principles they professed,
to an "apparent majority." Nor had Mole reason to
feel elated, for, as M. Thureau-Dangin very justly
states, Lamartine by no means accepted unconditionally
either the acts or the ideas of the Cabinet. "II aimait a
se poser en protecteur magnanime, parfois meme un peu
dedaigneux, plut6t qu'en partisan devoue, et il attaquait
la coalition plus qu'il ne defendit M. Mole." 2 Never-
theless, the assistance of even this half-hearted champion
was deeply appreciated, the Centre and Ministerial
benches enthusiastically welcoming an orator wielding
the eloquence their party lacked. They knew full well
that the denunciations of their spokesman were directed
solely against the vulgar ambitions of a league blindly
following a handful of selfish leaders, and that the sup-
port he lent them would melt like snow before an April
sun should an Opposition be formed which conscien-
tiously and fearlessly adopted social progress as its de-
vice.8 Never for one moment did Lamartine believe that
parliamentary prerogatives ran any risk of being dimmed
by the arrogation by the Crown of the constitutional

1 Cf. La France parlementaire, vol. n, p. 160.

2 Histoire de la monarchie de Juittet, vol. Ill, p. 330; cf. also Louis Blanc,
Histoire de Dix Ans, vol. v, p. 351.

8 Blanc, op. cit., p. 351; cf. also La France parlementaire, vol. 11, p. 150.

. . 6l • •

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

prerogatives it claimed. Such a pretext might serve to
mask the tactics of the leaders of the Coalition, but, as
Lamartine assured his hearers, the Crown was impotent
to harm them, for its only resource lay in a coup d'etat,
that is to say, a crime; and they knew that such an act
could not go three days unpunished.1

Lamartine's magnificent reply to M. Thiers's attack on
the Mole Cabinet is virtually a synopsis of the principles
proclaimed in the "Politique rationnelle." When, on
January 10, 1839, the deputy from Macon gave utter-
ance to those prophetic words: "La France est une na-
tion qui s'ennuie. Et prenez y garde, l'ennui des peuples
devient aisement convulsion et ruines"; when that warn-
ing was sounded sharply in the halls of Parliament and
reechoed throughout all the broad land of France, the
death-knell of a dynasty forgetful of its popular origin
was tolled.2 Nine years were to elapse before the crash
came; but the disintegration of the heterogeneous ma-
terials, which for eighteen years held the incongruous
structure upright, had begun. "The sovereignty invested
in a man, or the sovereignty invested in the country, is the
great division of dogma which, in modern times, sepa-
rates thinking men. My intelligence cannot admit the
symbol of despotism or of the degradation of human dig-
nity: my thought, my entire life, is devoted to the moral
development of the principle of liberty. Whether this
principle triumphs under a Republic or under that mixed
form of government which is called the representative
system, it matters but little: it is a mere question of time
and custom. ... I have no superstitious respect for any
combination of powers, and the merit of monarchical
constitutional government, in my eyes, is principally the
fact that it exists, and is in more or less harmony with
the necessities and the customs of an epoch of transition,

1 La France parlementaire, vol. 11, p. 144. * Ibid., p. 148.

• • 62 • •

AN ECLECTIC IN POLITICS

when there is too ardent a longing for liberty to embrace
the monarchical system, and too deep-rooted a habit of
the monarchy to accept the Republic." 1 Surely such
sentiments as these made clear the course the speaker
was determined to follow ! Nor could the significance of
the following passage be misconstrued: "Eighteen-thirty
knew neither how to create a line of action nor to find
itself. You could not remake Legitimacy: the ruins of
the Restoration were beneath your feet; you could not
reestablish military glory: the Empire had passed, and
left you merely a column of bronze in a Paris square.
The past was closed for you, you needed a new ideal.
You were impotent to borrow from a dead past, I know
not what remainder of vital warmth, insufficient at best
to animate a government which looked to the future;
you have deprived the country of progressive action.
You must not believe, gentlemen, that, because we are
weary of the great upheavals which have rocked the cen-
tury and ourselves, others are weary and fear the slight-
est change. The generations which are rising up around
us are not weary; they in turn demand action." 2 And
the peroration terminates with the catching phrase al-
ready cited: "Messieurs, la France est une nation qui

s ennuie

To us it seems well-nigh incredible that words, appar-
ently so insignificant, should produce, not only in France,
but in Europe, the deep impression they undoubtedly
did. Various interpretations have been vouchsafed;
many ingenious, none convincing. M. de Mazade asks
himself whether in this instance we should not substi-
tute the name of Lamartine for that of his country. It
was Lamartine who was bored by the comparative in-
action imposed upon him. He yearned for a leading role
in the political drama which was being enacted. He had

1 La France parlementaire, vol. II, p. 143. 2 Ibid., vol. 11, p. 148.

. . 63 . .

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

aspired to the Presidency of the Chamber, a ministerial
portfolio; and he was offered an embassy. Was it for
these reasons he sought the suffrages of the extreme Op-
positionists, "like a Coriolanus meditating vengeance"? 1
It is not probable. Whatever the opinion of historians
may be concerning the part played by Lamartine in the
battle against the Coalition, there is certainly no ground
for a doubt that in his own estimation his role was pre-
dominant. "C'est moi seul, j'ose le dire, qui ai empeche"
la guerre de Belgique," 2 he wrote Virieu from Saint-
Point after the dissolution which followed the sterile vic-
tory of Mole's Cabinet. Such a feat was well calculated
to emancipate the man who had encompassed it from the
lassitude of ennui. But his task was not finished. The
preservation of the authority of the King in his councils,
and the attainment of what he calls "a sincere majority"
in the Chamber, accurately reflecting the spirit of the
country, were objects still requiring ceaseless energy.
Should these fail, the latent revolutionary sentiment of
the masses, the prestige of military enterprises, must
embroil France in inextricable complications; perhaps
witness the accession of Henry V to a throne supported
by foreign bayonets, steeped in the blood of thousands
of patriotic Liberals. If France felt ennui, it was the
ennui caused by disappointment; by the failure of a con-
stitutional government, founded on the basis of popular
liberties, to fulfil the promise of social reforms its birth
had foreshadowed.

As Lamartine said in his speech of January 10 (1839),
the Monarchy of July, born of the people, owed itself en-
tirely to the people, devoting its energies to the interests
of the greater number. The task begun in 1789 should
have been continued, amplified, and perfected by the
Government of 1830, not through the medium of revo-

1 Lamartine, p. 98. * Correspondance, dcxciv.

. . 64 • •

AN ECLECTIC IN POLITICS

lutionary movements, but through legislation and the
gradual application of the great principles of democracy
and fraternity which Christianity had introduced.1 But
if France was restless — for ennui spells also annoyance,
pain, and, by extension, discontent — the unrest was
not merely the result of legislative inaction, or the insuf-
ficiency of the measures for social reform. A deep and
growing resentment against the restrictions imposed by
the treaties of 1815 was noticeable. "France is smother-
ing within too narrow limits, disproportioned to her ma-
terial forces and national influences," was the startling
statement he made a few days later. "She does not
occupy the place which should be hers in Europe. It is
apparent, France feels it, and it would be prudent for
Europe to understand it. The treaties of 18 15 are a re-
action against omnipotency, against the universal mon-
archy of Napoleon. They represent the heel of the con-
queror on the throat of the vanquished. But, gentlemen,
such a state of affairs cannot be permanent, and the op-
pression cannot be long endured when the sufferer is
France!" 2 The revolt against the humiliations imposed
by the Congress of Vienna dated from before 1830. The
Restoration had instigated a reaction which Chateau-
briand had endeavoured to enforce. Lamartine attrib-
uted to the anomalies of these diplomatic yokes the
unsatisfactory conditions prevailing abroad and also at
home, and saw in them the sources of the parliamentary
difficulties with which they were even then contending.
But it was manifestly unfair to hold Count Mole's Min-
istry accountable for a foreign policy which was a direct in-
heritance from their immediate predecessors, from a period
when Thiers and Guizot had held the reins of government.
Lamartine fretted no less than did many of his coun-
trymen over the inglorious r61e assigned to France by the
1 La France parlementaire, vol. 11, p. 148. 2 Ibid., p. 153.

• • 65 • •

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

Powers assembled at Vienna. Yet, despite the menace
implied by his words, nothing was farther from his
thoughts than a resort to arms in order to break the
fetters which hampered the expansion of French influ-
ences abroad. His intentions were essentially pacific.
All he now asked was confidence in the Government which
had the negotiations with Belgium in hand. The success-
ful termination of this complicated enterprise necessi-
tated the good-will of England, and Count Mole was
accused by his enemies of having allowed the friendship
with Great Britain to cool. If this were so, the reason
was not far to seek: the material interests of England
might be injured by the renascence of French diplomacy
on the Continent. Lamartine gave two examples of al-
liances which, if concluded, must give umbrage to their
neighbour across the Channel. Suppose France and
Russia came to an agreement in the Orient, the price of
the pact being the extension of the Czar's dominions
to the Bosphorus, while France expanded her frontiers
on the Rhine : the position of the allies in the Orient be-
came predominant. On the other hand, should France
and Austria conclude an alliance with the view of estab-
lishing an equilibrium of interests in this same Oriental
question, they held the balance of European power in
their united grasp, to the exclusion of English influence.
Political harmony on the Continent, he contended, was
detrimental to British interests; hence their difficulties in
Belgium, which were the direct results of the imbroglio
perfidious Albion had engineered. Mold's Cabinet repre-
sented peace; substitute one formed of the unstable ele-
ments of the Coalition, and the advantages offered by
other diplomatic combinations were immediately de-
stroyed, to the joy of those who sought to foster Conti-
nental dissensions.1 Freedom of action was an imperative

1 La France parlementaire, vol. II, p. 154.

. . 66 • •

AN ECLECTIC IN POLITICS

necessity for the moral and material development of the
France Lamartine's patriotic ambitions pictured in the
sisterhood of nations. With this object in view she must
break one by one the links of the chain which fettered
her; replacing the hampering treaties of 1815 with alli-
ances more in accord with her dignity. Little as he would
have approved an aggressive foreign policy in 1830, he
felt the time was ripe for an abandonment of "the policy
of genuflexions and the amende honorable" by which she
had sought to have herself forgiven abroad for the revolu-
tion which had placed the younger branch of Bourbons
upon the throne, together with the liberal constitutional-
ism the reigning dynasty incorporated. But such action
must not involve the abuse of the power which was hers
by right, and he earnestly deprecated a resort to vio-
lence in the present crisis in Belgium.1

Sentiments such as these, favouring, as they did,
cooperative rather than independent party action, made
a profound impression on the Chamber and were widely
repeated abroad. "Chaque matin, ses discours de la
veille bondissaient sur toutes les dalles du pav6 de Paris,"
according to the picturesque phrase of an ardent ad-
mirer.2

For twelve days, as has been told, the battle raged
unceasingly. Count Mole astonished friends and foes
alike by his cool and able thrust and parry in the violent
attacks directed against his person and his policy. La-
martine alone could be counted upon as an orator capa-
ble of facing such past-masters of the Tribune as Guizot,
Thiers, Berryer, or Odilon Barrot.3 Side by side these
two statesmen, so dissimilar in their innermost con-
victions, struggled against the overwhelming tide of a

1 La France parlementaire, vol. n, p. 165.

2 Quoted by Lady Margaret Domville, Lamartine, p. 199.
* Thureau-Dangin, op. tit., vol. in, p. 341.

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

coalition which both felt must, if successful, result in
parliamentary anarchy and the demoralization of a dis-
credited representative principle. The majorities obtained
by the Government, as each paragraph of the Address
was submitted to vote, were infinitesimal: that con-
cerning the Cabinet's action in the Belgian imbroglio
being but 216 to 212. But the vote on the ensemble of the
foreign policy of the Government was lost to the Coali-
tion by nine votes (219 to 210). Yet the Ministry held
firm, and on the morrow a vote of censure, proposed by
the committee charged with the framing of the amend-
ments to the Address, was thrown out by 220 to 213.
Lamartine's energy was tireless as the crisis approached.
In the Chamber, in the committee-rooms, and in the
various meetings, he spoke constantly and with impas-
sioned eloquence in defence of an institution he had not
approved, but which "covered three quarters of the in-
terests of his country and of Europe." 1 When finally
the debate was exhausted, and the Address as a whole
(comprising the amendments the Cabinet had succes-
sively caused to be adopted) was voted upon, 221 de-
puties upheld the Government which 208 condemned.2
The Ministry was victorious, it is true, but Count Mole
fully realized the precarious position of the Government
he represented.3 Nor was Lamartine the dupe of the ora-
torical triumph he had achieved, although he was well
aware of the immense value of the assistance he had
lent the Government and the Crown in the hour of ex-
tremist peril. "The 221 deputies have begged me to
be their leader," he wrote his ward, Leon de Pierreclos,
on January 21; "I answered that I had allied myself
with them solely with the provisional and determined

1 Cf. Correspondance, dcxciv.
1 Thureau-Dangin, op. cit., vol. ill, p. 340.

1 Cf. Blanc, Histoire de Dix Ans, vol. v, p. 353; also Thureau-Dangin,
op. cit., vol. in, p. 343.

. . 68 • •

AN ECLECTIC IN POLITICS

purpose of preventing the triumph of the Coalition and
the war with Belgium, and that this object achieved, I
should reassume my independent convictions. Read this
to my father and the family, and assure them that it is
my firm resolution to accept no place in the reconstructed
Cabinet. On all sides I am urged to do so; but I have
my own part to play and do not wish to assume another
unless compelled to yield to force majeure and an appeal
from the country." 1

Count Mole, three days after the uncertain victory,
placed his resignation in the hands of Louis-Philippe,
who refused it, preferring the dissolution of the Cham-
ber and new elections under the auspices of his favourite
Minister to the domination of M. Thiers and the chiefs
of the Coalitionists. After a fruitless attempt to enlist
Marshal Soult in a combination calculated to preserve
and perhaps to strengthen Mold's position, the King
signed (February 2, 1839) a decree dissolving the Cham-
ber and fixing new elections for the 2d of the following
month, and convoking Parliament for March 26. The
fury of the Coalitionists knew no bounds. The King's
action — an essentially constitutional one — was stig-
matized as a coup d'etat, and the battle, now resumed in
the open, raged more fiercely than ever.2 Lamartine
strenuously opposed the decree of dissolution,3 which
Count Mole obtained from the King, unknown to his
faithful henchman.4 Alone among the deputies who had
upheld the Ministry, Lamartine was summoned by Count
Mole to a private meeting of the Cabinet in which the
future action of the Government was discussed. Ad-
dressing his colleagues, Mole urged the necessity of an
appeal to the country; a proposition unanimously ac-

1 Correspondance, dclxxxviii.

2 Thureau-Dangin, op. cit., vol. ill, p. 346; also Blanc, op. cit., p. 354.

8 Memoires politiques, vol. I, p. 343. * Correspondance, dcxc.

..69..

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

cepted by all save Lamartine, who preferred to see the
Cabinet exhaust all the constitutional expedients at
its disposal before having recourse to a measure he felt
convinced would prove disastrous. If we may believe
Lamartine's version of this episode, it would appear that
he convinced the members of the Cabinet of the error
of such a step and, headed by M. de Montalivet, Minis-
ter of the Interior, one after another they retracted their
former adhesion to their chief's proposal, and agreed with
the outsider who had been admitted to their council.1 Pale
and visibly upset, M. Mole, turning to his colleagues,
informed them that it was too late. "The decree of dis-
solution, signed by the King last night at my request, is
even now on its way to the provinces."

It is certain that Louis-Philippe, much as he disliked
under the peculiar circumstances the principle of a dis-
solution, recognized that therein lay his only chance
of preserving a Minister to whom he was sincerely at-
tached.2 Nor did he stand alone in this opinion. Writing
to M. Mole, on February 18, M. de Barante upholds the
measure, declaring that it was absolutely inevitable, and
that to enforce it in preference to having M. Thiers
assume power "was a duty." Whatever his personal

1 M. Deschanel, in his Lamartine (vol. n, p. 113), does not accept the
dramatic version given in the Memoires politiques, and the even fuller de-
tails of his account of the event in the Cours de litterature. According to the
testimony of one of the most honourable Ministers present (whose name,
however, M. Deschanel does not give) Lamartine's opinion was sought pri-
vately, and, accompanied by M. de Montalivet, he saw Count Mole at the
latter 's residence. " Je me rendis au rendezvous chez M. Mole. J'y trouvai
les ministres reunis," Lamartine specifies in the Cours de littirature (vol.
xii, p. 285). And again in the letter to Virieu dated February, 1839, he
positively states: "J'ai et6 appel6 seul et confidentiellement au Conseil ou
cela [the dissolution] a ete resolu." (Correspondance, dcxc.) Failing docu-
mentary proof to the contrary, we are prepared to accept Lamartine's own
version. Note that had he been invited to a private conference, he would
have used the term "en conseil," and not "au Conseil," when writing a
few days later to Virieu.

1 CI. Thureau-Dangin, op. cit., vol. m, p. 344.

• • 70 • •

AN ECLECTIC IN POLITICS

convictions might be, Lamartine loyally accepted the
situation when he pleaded with the 221 deputies who re-
mained faithful to the principles at stake, and of whom he
considered himself mo mentarily the leader;1 for he assured
them that once the crisis was past, he would resume his
independence. "The dissolution of the Chamber has just
been announced to you," he said. "This is an extreme
appeal which the Constitution makes to the country
on extreme occasions. We are not called upon to judge
concerning the necessity or the opportunism of this
important measure: it is the exclusive privilege of the
Executive. Were we to criticize it here we should be
assuming the responsibility of the action. Let us leave
such responsibility to those in whom the Constitution
invests it." 2 And he continues to point out where their
duty lies — in steadfast allegiance to the principles they
have so valiantly defended against the unparalleled at-
tacks of the Coalition. To keep the majority together,
and instil the courage and confidence necessary for a con-
tinuance of the struggle when the Chamber reassembled,
was the utmost he could hope for. None could foresee the
result of the new elections: he himself was pessimistic as
to the outcome; but his action, even should disaster
overtake him, would leave his character unblemished and
his reputation as an honest politician well established.
That he looked for a personal victory during the coming
elections can hardly be doubted, for he wrote Virieu
before leaving Paris for Mtcon:"I shall found, with fif-
teen or twenty colleagues only, a new liberal and social
Right Centre, destined one day to unite with the new
Left and to modify it. There you have the whole secret
of my manoeuvre. " 3 The democratic leanings of such a
programme are apparent. To a reconstructed and puri-

1 Correspondence, dcxc; cf. also Deschanel, op. tit., vol. 11, p. 114.

1 La France parlemeniaire, vol. 11, p. 175. ■ Correspondance, dcxc

. • 71 • •

LIFE OF IAMARTINE

fied Left could well be entrusted participation in the
social reforms ever paramount in his mind when dealing
with political combinations entailing party cooperation.
Reference has been made to Louis-Philippe's answer
when asked why he did not entrust a ministerial port-
folio to Lamartine: "M. de Lamartine is not a Minister,
but a Ministry," the King replied. It would appear that
the Sovereign on more than one occasion expressed the
desire that the deputy who had defended so energeti-
cally the interests of the Orleans dynasty, should come
secretly to the Tuileries in order to discuss the political
situation. Lamartine in after years (1861) gave a circum-
stantial account of an interview he had with the King,
who used all the persuasive eloquence he possessed to
induce his elusive ally to recognize his dynasty openly.1
Although no irrefutable documentary evidence exists con-
cerning the episode, it is certainly admissible that La-
martine deferred to the royal invitation. Be this as it
may, however, it is certain that the interview was pro-
ductive of no appreciable change of heart on Lamartine' s
part towards the dynasty he invariably and openly con-
sidered as a pis alter — the stepping-stone to an era of
political and social liberties wherein a usurpation could
find no place.2 The Coalition of 1839 shook the throne
to its foundations. The parliamentary anarchy which
ensued slowly permeated every stratum of the social fab-
ric, gradually sapping the never solid foundations of the
makeshift regime, which, in spite of its many really ad-
mirable qualities and virtues, was tainted from birth.
There was sound prophetic philosophy in the words of

1 Cours de litterature, vol. xil, p. 268, and Conseiller du Peuple.

* In his preface to the collected speeches of Lamartine M. Louis Ulbach
also states that after the battle of the Coalition, the King sent twice for
Lamartine, and attempted, en prevision de I'inconnu, to attach indissolubly
to his cause a man whose sense of duty was so strong, yet who declined to be
bound by any party ties. Cf. La France parlementaire, Lamartine et son
temps, p. lxxi.

• • 72 • •

AN ECLECTIC IN POLITICS

the Republican De Cormenin (sentiments which might
have been uttered by Lamartine himself): "La France
veut le gouvernement du pays par le pays. La Cour veut
le gouvernement personnel du roi. Au bout de l'un se
trouvent l'ordre et la liberte: au bout de l'autre se trouve
une revolution." ■

1 Cf. pamphlet, Rtat de la question, published during the elections of
1839; also Correspondence, dcxciv.

CHAPTER XXXV
THE EASTERN QUESTION

Before leaving Paris to attend the preparations for
the elections in his native province, Lamartine had a
further interview with Royer-Collard, who again as-
sured him of the great future before him. Susceptible to
flattery as he was, and himself convinced that he was
destined to play a leading part in the political develop-
ment of France, Royer-Collard's solemnly uttered au-
gury appears to have produced a deep impression on
Lamartine's mind. Nor was he much less elated that
the genius which had guided his literary taste in youth,
M. de Chateaubriand, should express analogous senti-
ments on his behalf, and that the dreaded pamphleteer
Cormenin had been brought to embrace his ideas, "aussi
populaires mais plus applicables que leurs revasseries
republicaines." * It was consequently with confidence in
the mission he had assumed, and unquestioning faith
in his personal ability to solve the vexed problems which
confronted the practical development of his theories,
that he threw himself into the electioneering turmoil at
Macon.

His confidence in his fellow-citizens was justified.
Macon, intra muros, returned their brilliant deputy by
a majority largely in excess of that which had seated
him in the previous elections.2 As Lamartine had an-
ticipated, however, the country had not sustained Count
Mol6's Government, and the Minister handed in his

1 Correspondance, dcxcii.

' Ibid., dcxciii. His majority in 1837 had been but five, while it now was
seventy, exclusive of some thirty lost votes, claimed in his favour.

• • 74 • •

THE EASTERN QUESTION

resignation on March 8 (1839). As the moment for the
meeting of the new Parliament approached, the situa-
tion became even more critical. Count Mole declined to
present himself before the Chamber, and the King found
it impossible to constitute a ministry capable of taking
his place. Under these peculiar circumstances Louis-
Philippe had recourse to an abnormal expedient, ap-
proved, however, by the political lights to whom he
appealed. A provisional ministry was got together,
composed of men of little or no political influence, whose
functions consisted in opening the session, and despatch-
ing current business until such time as a regular cabinet,
practically designated by the Chamber itself, could be
formed. The Due de Montebello, French Ambassador at
Naples, accepted the nominal presidency of this make-
shift, under whose auspices the session was opened on
April 4, 1839.1

Despite certain mutual concessions, however, the ab-
normal situation had become intolerable when, on May
12, an insurrectionary movement, headed by two promi-
nent Republicans, Barbes and Blanqui, had the result of
bringing order out of the chaos. Quelled without difficulty,
the occurrence nevertheless made it apparent to all that
a strong hand was imperative if more serious revolu-
tionary outbreaks were to be avoided. A compromise
was at length reached by virtue of which Thiers, Guizot,
and Odilon Barrot waived their several pretensions in
favour of Marshal Soult. But all recognized that the
expedient resorted to could, under the most favourable
circumstances, be but short-lived. Of homogeneity this
Cabinet contained not a trace, composed as it was of
adversaries temporarily held together by circumstances
doomed to infallible disintegration.2 During the six

1 Cf. Thureau-Dangin, op. cit., vol. in, p. 376.
8 Cf. De Mazade, Monsieur Thiers, p. 146.

• 75 • •

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

weeks which preceded the Soult regime, Lamartine de-
voted all his energies, and the very considerable influence
he retained with the two hundred and twenty-one dep-
uties who had fought the Coalition under his guidance,
to the pacification of the political passions which still
raged within the Chamber, and which were not only af-
fecting the economic conditions of the country seriously,
but stirring up alarming social unrest. Accused of ultra-
monarchical leanings by his closest friends, he emphati-
cally denied being in touch with the Tuileries, explaining
that he merely upheld the principles and prerogatives
which the Constitution of 1830 had guaranteed. "Three
years of rapine and blood must be the price paid for
a change of regime on the establishment of the Repub-
lic during the existing political chaos,"1 he declared.
There can be little doubt but that his diagnosis was cor-
rect. The political anarchy then reigning within the
Chamber must have meant social anarchy throughout
the land, had the dam which restrained the turbid flood
been swept aside.

It would be beyond the scope of this study to follow
the see-saw of factional intrigue and agitation during
the short period of M. de Montebello's anomalous admin-
istration, for Lamartine's action, while always concilia-
tory, was purely negative. But with the advent to power
of Marshal Soult, the foreign policy of France became
once more a living force. The Eastern Question had been
brought to an acute phase by the invasion of Syria by
Ibrahim Pasha. The integrity of the Ottoman Empire
was seriously menaced by the Pasha of Egypt, and the
European Powers found themselves again confronted by
the mixed problem of adherence to the status quo, or a
division of the spoils in the interests of Occidental civili-
zation. Although Louis-Philippe had not unlimited faith

1 Correspondance, dcxcviii.
• • 76 • •

THE EASTERN QUESTION

in the durability or strength of the Marshal's parlia-
mentary position,1 he realized that the unsatisfactory
situation at home demanded a diversion abroad reflect-
ing glory on the somewhat tarnished prestige of his Gov-
ernment.2 He was consequently not loath to improve the
opportunity offered France to regain her place in the
diplomatic counsels of Europe. On July i, 1839, Mar-
shal Soult tentatively opened the debate in Parliament,
which, contrary to general expectations, immediately as-
sumed prime importance. The variety of opinions was
decidedly confusing; each orator insisted on his per-
sonal policy, which was frequently diametrically op-
posed to that of his predecessor. The Due de Valmy
proposed that the Egyptian Pasha be sacrificed to the
interests of the Turkish sovereign, while M. de Carne saw
the regeneration of the East in the triumph of Mehemet
Ali and his Arabs. Lamartine felt himself in his natural
element when dealing with the question he had, in a sense,
made his own since his prolonged travels in the East.

It was therefore with renewed ardour that he took
up the theme he had treated in his maiden speeches of
1834. No comparison can be made, however, between
the finished oratory, the harmonious arrangement, the
serried argument or brilliancy of language in this magni-
ficent outburst, and the utterances of five years before.
During this period the orator had made gigantic strides,
and was in full possession of his marvellous gifts. Yet
this oration, which, if one of the most chimerical, was one
of the most eloquent Lamartine ever pronounced, was
an improvisation from start to finish, for the fragmen-
tary notes he consulted hardly fill a printed page.3 Fully

1 He deemed it would last one year. Cf . Memoires de Metternich, vol. VI,

p. 364.

2 Cf. Thureau-Dangin, op. tit., vol. rv, p. 48.

1 Cf. Rene Doumic, "Lamartine orateur," Revue des Deux Mondes,
September 15, 1908.

• • 77 • '

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

convinced of the expediency of French intervention in
the diplomatic imbroglio, he sought to make clear to
his hearers the actual condition of affairs in the countries
he had personally visited. From the outset he made it
evident that he himself saw no other alternative but a
division of the Sick Man's property in accordance with
the legitimate ambitions of the civilizing elements of the
Occident. The maintenance of the status quo in the
Orient was, he insisted, an anachronism: "there is no
longer a Turkey, there is no longer an Ottoman Empire
except in diplomatic fictions. ..." Seeking the causes
of this rapid decadence, he finds them in the religious
fanaticism which precludes any system of legitimate
government based on the regular transmission of power
or preparation for political responsibilities. Nor can he
find any stable elements constituting the so-called Otto-
man Empire, outside of Constantinople. Can the coasts
of the Black Sea, where on all sides Russian forts are
scattered, be called the Ottoman Empire? Are Mol-
davia and Wallachia 1 (practically Russian protectorates,
where a Turkish soldier dares not put his foot) the Otto-
man Empire? Is Servia, which has thrice conquered the
Moslem oppressor, the Ottoman Empire? Does the Otto-
man Empire include the four millions of Bulgarians, of
Macedonians, of Greeks scattered amongst the islands,
and the countless hordes of Asia Minor and Syria? No;
these heterogeneous elements, held together by mere
tyrannical force, and seeking but an opportunity to es-
tablish their political independence, in no wise constitute
a nation. In the Orient neither national nor political
homogeneity exists: there is but a master surrounded by
slaves.

Turning then to the political and diplomatic aspect
of the question, the speaker failed to discern in the main-

1 Now the Kingdom of Roumania.
. . 78 • •

THE EASTERN QUESTION

tenance of the status quo any profit but to England and
Russia. He could understand the value of the system of
status quo for the maintenance of the integrity of the
Ottoman Empire, before the treaty of 1774, and before
that of 1792; he could understand it even up to 1813.
In short, he understood it up to the time of the de-
struction of the Turkish fleet at Navarino in 1827 —
"that act of national insanity on the part of France and
England for the benefit of Russia." But after the usurpa-
tion of the Crimea ; after the Russian protectorate in the
Moldo-Wallachian provinces; after the occupation and
emancipation of Greece by the allies; after the conver-
sion of the Black Sea into a Russian lake, and the crea-
tion of Sebastopol, whence the Russian fleet could reach
Constantinople in twenty-four hours; after the treaties
of Adrianople, of Unkiar-Skelessi and Kutaya, and the
spoliation of the southern half of the Ottoman Empire
by those who professed themselves its protectors, the
status quo was as derisive as the farce of a Polish nation-
ality. If France was serious in her desire to maintain the
status quo, however, there was but one line of action
open to her : she must lend aid to the Sultan in suppress-
ing the revolt in Syria and in regaining possession of
Egypt. Failing to do this it was only a question of time
when England would be mistress of the Mediterranean.
Firmly planted in Egypt, holding the mouths of the
Nile and the Red Sea, with a string of stations from
Gibraltar to Port-Said, Great Britain would control the
route to India, and hold in her grasp the monopoly
of the world's commerce. To the prophetic vision of
Lamartine the Suez Canal already existed, and the
predominance of England in Egypt was a foregone
conclusion.

The advice he gave his countrymen was a radical de-
parture from the pacific foreign policy hitherto followed

. • 79 . .

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

by the July Monarchy. "Call together a Congress, if
there is still time, and there negotiate concerning spheres
of interest appropriate to the equitable pretensions of
the four Great Powers [Russia, Austria, France, and
England]. If it is too late for diplomatic action, refuse
energetically to join in an attack on the Sultan's fleet,
but seize immediately in the East a maritime and military
point of vantage, similar to what England holds at
Malta, or Russia in the Black Sea; seize provisionally an
earnest of your influence and strength, whence you can
dominate either negotiations or events." x At the close
of his long and impassioned harangue, Lamartine again
gives utterance to the battle-cry which his previous
significant warning, "Messieurs, la France s'ennuie" had
echoed through the land. Reproaching the timid politi-
cians who sought to isolate France from participation in
Continental affairs through fear of the unstable political
situation at home, he urges "une puissante diversion na-
tional imprimee aux esprits qui se pervertissent dans
l'inaction, une impulsion forte et longue vers les grandes
entreprises au dehors. . . . Notre salut n'est plus aujour-
d'hui que la: il y a longtemps que je vous le dis. Nous
manquons d'air: donnez-nous-en, donnez-en a la France
qui etouffe dans le traite de Vienne." 2

In his reply to M. Odilon Barrot, who accused him of
advocating an immoral policy in regard to the Eastern
Question, Lamartine qualified and attenuated several
of his remarks, it is true; yet the impression remains that
he did so in compliance with motives of general expedi-
ency, for he cleverly shifts the argument from the diplo-
matic to the philosophic aspects of the situation, while
vindicating the purely patriotic interpretation to be
given his words. Going still farther afield, he cries: "N'y
a-t-il pas un sentiment au dessus du patriotisme lui-
x La France parlementaire, vol. H, p. 225. * Ibid., p. 227.

. . 80 • •

LAMARTINE IN 1839

From the painting by Decaism

THE EASTERN QUESTION

me'me, le sentiment du developpement de l'humanite." l
This sentiment, he maintains, would in itself authorize
the dismemberment of the corpse known to diplomacy
as the Ottoman Empire.

In any case the effect produced by this speech, or
speeches (for the reply to Barrot certainly ranks as an
oratorical masterpiece), was very profound. Lamartine
himself naively writes Virieu that his speeches "ont fait
une impression telle que je n'en ai jamais vu, meme aux
plus grands jours de Berryer. . . . Le mot g6neral est que
de dix ans, et peut-etre de quarante ans, la tribune n'a
pasvumieux."2 Obviously he exaggerates. Nevertheless,
even by his enemies he was acknowledged to wield a power
which could no longer be ignored.

Much has been written concerning the extent to which
Lamartine's finest oratorical efforts may be considered
improvisations. M. Rene Doumic, who was given access
to the storehouse at Saint-Point, where masses of letters
and documents are preserved, is of the opinion that
very little in important speeches was left to chance.3
Mention has been made above of a short page of memo-
randa carried by Lamartine to the rostrum on the occa-
sion of his great discourse on Oriental affairs. Practi-
cally every point he expounded was jotted down on that
scrap of paper: a word, a broken phrase, served, how-
ever, as the foundation for long flights of magnificent
rhetoric. Of necessity the arguments were studied out
beforehand; figures and dates indicated; and now and
then a telling phrase written in full. Such catchwords
were manifestly polished and prepared in advance, al-
though frequently slightly altered in delivery. Little was
left to the inspiration of the moment, where essentials

1 Cf. La France parlementaire, vol. II, p. 231.

' Correspondance, dcci.

3 Cf. " Lamartine orateur," Revue des Deux Mondes, September 15, 1908.

. . 8l • •

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

were concerned, and Lamartine never departed from
the general outline he had traced when preparing his
harangue. The notes he took with him were merely
landmarks which permitted him to develop indefinitely
the sentiment he expressed, without fear of losing the
thread in the maze of metaphor with which he inter-
larded the solid prose of political or diplomatic fact.
But the performance was no less wonderful because
prepared.1

As the Government became more deeply involved in
the Eastern Question, Lamartine sought to inspire his
countrymen with the desire to play a leading part in the
settlement of an international problem wherein, he be-
lieved, French interests were being slighted. The revi-
sion of the treaties of 1 8 15 — agreements subscribed to
when France was in no position to react against the over-
whelming odds which confronted her — must be insisted
upon. The Ministry of Marshal Soult, hesitating and
tentative as its policy was, held to the maintenance of
the Ottoman Empire, while accepting the status quo:
that is to say, permitting the rebel Pasha of Egypt to
retain his hold on Syria, and practically renounce his
allegiance to the Sublime Porte. On January II, 1840,
Lamartine again addressed his colleagues on this im-
portant issue: "the most important crisis with which
France had had to deal since the founding of her inter-
ests in the East." 2 To the weak and vacillating policy
followed must be attributed the victory gained by the
rebellious Mehemet Ali over the Ottoman troops at
Nizib, and the treacherous surrender of the Turkish
fleet. This policy condemned France to isolation, and
separated her from England, who desired the mainte-

1 In his letter to Virieu of January 13, 1840, Lamartine styles his speech
"une assez bonne improvisation." Cf. Correspondance, DCCXV.
1 La France parlemenlaire, vol. II, p. 295.

. . 82 • •

THE EASTERN QUESTION

nance of the status quo ante. Russia, profiting by the dis-
sensions existing between the two Western Powers, was
already negotiating for the seizure of Constantinople
through the medium of M. de Brunnow, in London.1 But
where Lamartine was mistaken was in his belief that by
granting political independence to the Pasha of Egypt
the world would be deprived of the means of communi-
cation between Europe and India.2 Unacquainted as he
necessarily was with the secrets of the diplomacy he
attacked, he presented to his colleagues a one-sided view,
which, although plausible and even profound, lacked
completeness. He discerned a solution of the problem
only in the disruption of the Ottoman Empire. For the
hour of deliverance from the crushing weight of the Turk-
ish corpse, he devoutly prays. His policy of "spheres
of interest" for France, Russia, Austria, and England
(one and all at the expense of the Turk, of course) must
in the long run, he maintains, not only benefit the civiliz-
ing nations of Europe, but be an inestimable boon to
the suffering populations groaning under the barbarous
yoke of Islam.3

Chimerical as this readjustment of the eternal problem
sounded, it presented a certain analogy to the policy
the Government was at the time secretly negotiating
with England. The two factors which complicate the
question to-day, United Italy and the German Empire,
did not then exist. Lamartine never had any sympathy
with the aspirations of Italians to become a nation, and
he fully realized the dangers to France of a united Ger-
many on her eastern frontier. In a vigorous policy in
the Eastern Mediterranean he discerned an opportunity
to shake off the fetters which had bound his country

1 Thureau-Dangin, op. tit., vol. iv, p. 71.

* La France parlementaire, vol. II, p. 304.

* Cf. La France parlementaire, vol. 11, p. 307; also Louis Blanc, op. tit.,
vol. v, p. 430.

• • 83 • •

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

since 1815, and an eventual possibility of reestablishing
the former frontier on the Rhine.1

On August 28, 1840, Lamartine began a series of
articles in the "Journal de Saone et Loire," exposing his
views on the Eastern Question, and the folly of the pol-
icy the Government had adopted. An analysis of these
writings yields practically the pith of his speeches of July
1, 1839, and January II, 1840, the arguments advanced
being clothed in more popular form. Widely read and
considered at home and abroad, these articles contributed
not a little to the growing reputation of their author. In
England the "Quarterly Review," discussing the issue, re-
marked: "Some articles, lately published byM.de La-
martine in a prominent newspaper, have produced a great
sensation, not only in France, but throughout Europe.
This writer, by the elevation of his sentiments, by the en-
thusiastic yet practical nature of his views, by the hon-
esty of his intention and the soundness of his reasoning,
his immense influence, and his indifference to political
power, has nevertheless party spirit of every shade and
creed arrayed against him." 2

On March 1, 1840, Marshal Soult's Cabinet had fallen;
not on the Eastern Question, however, but on the failure
of the Chambers to vote the dowry asked for Louis-
Philippe's second son, the Due de Nemours, on the occa-
sion of his marriage with the Princess Victoria of Saxe-
Cobourg-Gotha. M. Louis Blanc sees in this refusal to
dower a prince of their Royal House the proof of the Re-
publican sentiments of the bourgeoisie which supposedly
represented the bulwarks of the July Monarchy.3 Opin-
ions differ, however, as to the correctness of this view.

1 Cf . Thureau-Dangin, op. cil., vol. iv, p. 88: " M. de Lamartine fut a peu
pres seul a denoncer la chimere et le peril de notre politique egyptienne,
et e'etait pour y substituer une chimere plus perilleuse encore, celle d'une
politique de partage, ou la France chercherait son lot sur le Rhin."

2 September, 1840. * Histoire de Dix Ans, vol. v, p. 458.

. . 84 • •

THE EASTERN QUESTION

The rich bourgeoisie, it may be safely asserted, feared the
excess of a popular regime, while openly manifesting their
dissatisfaction with the dynasty they had created. So
close an observer as Henry Heine could only discern
an "inconsequence" in the action of the Chamber.
Writing to the "Augsburger Zeitung," apostrophizing
the timorous citizens of the upper middle classes, he
exclaimed: "You shrink with dread before the Republic,
and you openly insult your King!"

To Louis-Philippe the humiliation was deep. More
especially was the blow felt, as in the formation of the
new Ministry the selection of Thiers seemed inevitable.
But Louis- Philippe was a philosopher, and swallowing
his personal pride, he called the man who, as a leader
of the Coalition, had contested his royal prerogatives, to
be his chief adviser.

M. Thiers, confronted from the outset by the two hun-
dred and twenty-one supporters of Count Mole's Minis-
try, now practically under the guidance of Lamartine,1
realized that his only chance of retaining the power which
had slipped into his grasp was by playing to the gallery,
and making a bold bid for popularity with the masses.
To Lamartine Thiers's advent to power constituted a
menace to the tranquillity of France and the peace of
Europe. "M. Thiers n'est plus un ministre parlemen-
taire, c'est une personnification de la force extra-parle-
mentaire de la presse, c'est le dictateur de l'ultra-r6vo-
lution," he wrote to M. de Champvans.2 The bold stroke
Thiers made for popularity was the motion he intro-
duced into Parliament for the transference of the remains
of Napoleon from St. Helena to France. As early as
May 12, Lamartine wrote his ward, Leon de Pierreclos:
"Les cendres de Napoleon ne sont pas 6teintes, et il en
souffle des etincelles." 3 None saw more clearly than he

1 Correspondance, dccxxiii. 2 Ibid., dcxxi. 3 Ibid., dccxxvi.

• • 85 • •

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

the peril which must arise out of what he called "les
jongleries napoleoniennes." 1 For the hero who "in-
carna le materialisme dans un chiffre arm6," he pro-
fessed only "hatred, horror, and contempt." 2 He
frankly confesses to Virieu, however, in the same letter,
that, finding the Left, on which he had counted for sup-
port, ready to abandon him and to go over to Thiers, he
had considered diplomacy the better course, and modified
the harshness of his judgment in view of the temper of
his audience. This concession to his popularity with the
Chamber is so at variance with his usual bold and dis-
dainful independence, that it can only be accounted for
by his eagerness to preserve, at almost any cost, the
influence he possessed, against the crisis he foresaw.
One of his biographers considers this speech "le plus
beau de tous ses discours." 3 M. Deschanel applauds
Lamartine's words as at once "a monument of lofty
reason and a model of oratorical tactics and parliamen-
tary ability." Nevertheless, whatever may have been
Lamartine's object in attenuating the scathing utter-
ances he had most certainly prepared, to accord with the
humour of his hearers, we cannot help feeling that his
reputation as a statesman would have been enhanced
had he categorically refused to vote the credit demanded
by the Ministry for an object which he so distinctly rec-
ognized as a peril to France. This much said, none can
deny the extraordinary cleverness and tact of what
must appear, in the light of his vote, a purely platonic
protest.

Placing himself positively on the ground of lofty patri-
otic sentiments, he tells his hearers that if he associates
himself, as a Frenchman, with the pious duty of granting

1 Correspondance, dccxxviii. * Ibid., dccxxx.

' fimile Deschanel, op. cit., vol. H, p. 118. M. Deschanel is in error when
dating the speech on March 26 instead of May 26, for the discussion was
only opened on May 12.

• • 86 • •

THE EASTERN QUESTION

a tomb on his native soil to one of the men who made
most noise on the planet, it is because his name has be-
come synonymous with that of France. Yet he was a man
whose will overruled for ten years the laws, the wishes,
and the destiny of his country. It was not without a
certain regret that he (Lamartine) witnessed the pas-
sionate enthusiasm this memory aroused. Perhaps the
ashes of the great man had better been left a while
longer on that distant, ocean-bound rock. The ancients
allowed a certain time to elapse between the death of a
hero and the judgment of posterity: when impartial, the
verdict of history was more sure of being definite. The
ashes were not yet cold enough to be touched; dan-
ger still lay in the smouldering embers; the danger of
fanaticism ; for a nation like France with difficulty sepa-
rated gratitude from common sense. And growing bolder,
he expresses himself as ready to accept unpopularity
when he affirms that he entertains no enthusiasm for the
great man; that he does not prostrate himself before
this ideal; that he does not accept the "Napoleonic re-
ligion," the worship of force, which for some time past
has replaced in the national spirit the sacred religion
of liberty. "I do not believe it is prudent thus contin-
ually to deify war," he warns; "to excite the already too
impetuous seething of French blood which they would
have us believe is impatient to be shed after twenty-five
years of peace, as if peace, which constitutes the happi-
ness and glory of the world, could be a shame to na-
tions." Recalling his own youth, the orator confesses
that he owes his love, his passion, for liberty to the public
oppression which the name of the man it is now proposed
to honour evokes. "Oui, j'ai compris pour la premiere
fois ce que valaient la pensee et la parole fibres en vivant
sous ce regime de silence et de volonte unique dont les
hommes d'aujourd'hui ne voient que l'eclat, mais dont

. • 87 • •

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

le peuple et nous, nous sentions la pesanteur." Express-
ing ever more forcibly his apprehension as to whither
their demonstrative enthusiasm may lead them, he
pleads with his hearers not to pander to the opinions of
a people too prone to worship that which dazzles it
rather than that which serves it. "Let us be careful lest
we cause them to despise these less brilliant, but a thou-
sand times more popular, institutions under which we
live, and for which our fathers died fighting." The new
monarchy, that of reason, representative in its institu-
tions, and pacific withal, ran the risk of being discredited
in the eyes of the people, were too much stress laid on
the brilliancy of the past. Had Napoleon been a Euro-
pean Washington, content with serving his country,
strengthening its institutions, and fostering the growth
of popular liberties, the speaker doubted whether all
this enthusiasm would have been awakened. "You in-
sult your country!" cried a voice. "No, sir," calmly re-
torted Lamartine, " I am only analyzing human nature."
And he went on to describe the unheeded tombs of a
Mirabeau and of a Lafayette, whose lives had been de-
voted to the unselfish spread of popular liberties. "Take
heed lest you overdo your encouragement of genius at any
price. I dread it for our future. I fear these men who have
a double standard, . . . who preach an official doctrine
of liberty, legality, and progress, and who adopt as their
symbol the sword and despotism." Enumerating the
various resting-places suggested for the ashes of their
hero, Lamartine counsels his countrymen to adopt an
epitaph which shall fit at once their enthusiasm and
their prudence, " the only inscription fitted for this
unique man, and for the difficult epoch in which you live:
'A Napoleon . . . seul.' These three words, while at-
testing that this military genius had no equal, will at the
same time attest before France, Europe, and the world,

. . 88 . •

THE EASTERN QUESTION

that if this generous nation knows how to honour her
great men, she knows also how to judge them, and to
distinguish in them their faults and their services. . . ." l
Be it remembered th,at these prophetic words were
spoken in 1840 — eleven years before the events he so
clearly foresaw.

Lamartine has been reproached with idealizing the
Napoleonic epoch in his ode entitled "Bonaparte,"
written in 182 1.2 But these reproaches came from the
ultra-royalist and Catholic parties.3 In the edition of
his collected works which he published by subscription in
i860, Lamartine says that where some found him too
severe he himself considered he had been too indulgent.
". . . Je me reprochais quelque complaisance pour la
popularity posthume de ce grand nom. La derniere
strophe surtout est un sacrifice immoral a ce qu'on
appelle la gloire. . . . J'ai corrige ici ces deux vers qui
pesaient comme un remords sur ma conscience." 4
Louis-Philippe had at first been considerably startled
by Thiers's insistence that the Emperor's ashes be
brought to France; but he had yielded, and authorized
M. Guizot, then Ambassador in England, to make the
request of the British Government. Lord Palmerston
readily agreed, seeing an opportunity to gain, by his
compliance, advantages in another direction. On May
13, 1840, writing to his brother, the English Minister ob-
served: "This is a thoroughly French request"; but
added that there was no valid reason why the English
Government should hesitate to grant it.6

1 Cf. La France parlementaire, vol. 11, pp. 348-56.

2 Although in his commentary on this ode, published in his collected
works, Lamartine gives the date as above, there is reason for the belief,
held by M. Leon Seche, that the poem was written in 1823. Cf. Lamartine,
p. 192.

8 Cf. £mile Deschanel, op. cit., p. 125.

* CEuvres computes, vol. 1, p. 376.

6 Bulwer, Life of Palmerston, vol. 111, p. 40.

..89. •

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

Knowing that Lamartine was to speak on the subject,
and fully aware that his eloquence might be detrimental
to the project, Thiers attempted to dissuade him from
his intention. Lamartine refused, however; stating that
imitators of the great War- Lord must be discouraged.
"Oh," replied Thiers, "would anybody dream of imi-
tating him?" "You are right," acquiesced Lamartine,
who remembered with anxiety the recent affair at Stras-
bourg; "you are right; I ought to have said 'parodists'
of Napoleon." 1 The effect of Lamartine's speech was
prodigious. No one rose to refute his assertions: even
M. Thiers remained silent. But although his warnings
were unheeded, Lamartine's words considerably cooled
the primitive enthusiasm of his colleagues, who refused
the credit asked for. A subscription started by the press
was also abandoned. Yet Thiers clung tenaciously to his
project, and finally, on July 7, the financial difficulties
having been overcome, the frigate Belle Poule, under
the command of the King's son, the Prince de Joinville,
set sail for St. Helena.

Among the most important speeches delivered by
Lamartine during the session of 1840-41 must assuredly
be counted his prophetic opposition to the proposed for-
tifications around Paris. The question of encircling the
capital with walls defended by a belt of detached forts
had arisen as early as 1833, but public opinion had not
favoured the measure. In 1840, however, owing to the
gravity of the situation abroad, this opposition was
partially neutralized by the desire to protect the capi-
tal efficiently against aggression by a foreign foe. Al-
though some felt that, when imprisoned within walls,
Paris would be more readily at the mercy of a local rev-
olutionary coup de main, others believed that the fact

1 Letter from Captain Callier to Marshal Soult, cited by Thureau-
Dangin, op. cit., vol. iv, p. 163.

. . 90 . .

THE EASTERN QUESTION

that France was preparing herself against attack might
have a salutary effect on the international situation.
The controversy waxed hot, the opponents maintaining
that, if recommended for defence against foreign invaders,
the detached forts were no less designed to command the
streets of Paris. This object was but too manifest to the
revolutionists, who denounced the scheme as another
menace to the liberties of the people.1

Lamartine, who shared this point of view, or at least
appreciated its significance, directed all the energies of
his impassioned eloquence against the proposed fortifica-
tions. He contended that they would be useless against
a foreign invader and might prove a weapon in the
hands of an insurgent mob, while they must constitute a
permanent menace to the freedom of deliberation in the
National Assembly, as well as to the inviolability of the
Constitution. From the outset it would seem as if La-
martine clearly foresaw the r61e these walls were to play
thirty years later, when the Commune held the terrorized
capital in its frenzied grasp, and the ramparts, constructed
to keep the foreign invaders out, retarded the advent
of the disciplined troops, eager to quell the anarchy pre-
vailing within the burning city. Contrary to the ac-
cepted opinion, he from the first insisted that the ques-
tion was not a purely military one, and that, far from
constituting a security for the country, these fortifica-
tions might prove an additional peril. "The strength of
France," he said, "is not to be sought in the walls around
Paris, but in her people, in her soldiers." The army is a
movable wall which can be transported hither and thither
according to the requirements of circumstance. The im-
movable walls it was proposed to build around an im-
mense conglomeration, such as Paris, could only serve, he
insisted, as a temporary refuge for a demoralized horde
1 Cf. Sir Thomas May, Democracy in Europe, vol. n, p. 261.
• • 91 • •

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

of soldiery, fleeing before an advancing and victorious
foe. Imprison these dispirited forces pell-mell with a
million or more of half-famished citizens of the lowest
classes (for naturally all those who could afford it would
have fled the threatened city), and pillage and ruin
must ensue. Napoleon himself had always been against
the fortification of the capital, for he realized that a
battle lost in the open could never be redeemed behind
the bars of a beleaguered capital whose vulnerability lay
as much at the mercy of the seething rebellious forces
within the gates as from without. "Are the walls to be
constructed in order that the Government may take
refuge behind them? " he queried. But what could a gov-
ernment, in an open palace such as the Tuileries, do
for France? Surrounded by a million and a half of fam-
ished and furious insurgents, clamouring for bread and
revenge, any government must be powerless. On the
other hand, should the Government leave Paris, the
walls would only serve to protect the ruin and desola-
tion which such a step must entail. "Paris et le gou-
vernement separ£s, c'est le corps et Tame s6pares; c'est
la mort du gouvernement et de la capitale." Both 1870
and 1 9 14 have proved the fallacy of this assertion, too
sweeping in its generality ; but at the time the phrase was
uttered a real reason existed for the contention.

Moreover, with the poet's gift of prescience, Lamartine
discerned beneath the passionate discussion the rivalry
of factions. If the Government supported and insisted
on the measure, it was because it considered that popu-
lar license might the more readily be restrained within
a walled city. If the Republicans advocated the construc-
tion of fortifications and ramparts around the capital, it
was because they deemed it possible to convert them
into weapons against the Government when their hour
should come. Despite Lamartine's warnings the bill

• • 92 • •

THE EASTERN QUESTION

was passed by a large majority, for the military esprit
was strong in France at this period, and public opinion
welcomed any outward and visible sign of the martial
enthusiasm which had animated the generation to which
their fathers belonged.1 Thiers had led his country to
the verge of war in his diplomatic negotiations over the
Egyptian question, and Thiers was responsible for the
popular agitation over the fortifications. The Cabinet
of March I had fallen in consequence of the Premier's
action in the Orient, but the Government still clung to
the scheme for the protection of the capital, and the
Guizot Ministry which succeeded Thiers adopted the
measure on its programme. M. Guizot was himself a
fervent advocate of the fortifications, believing, as he
did, that the moral effect abroad would do much to en-
hance the diplomatic action France had entered upon.
During a visit to Windsor in 1844, when he accompanied
Louis- Philippe to England, Guizot reports in his " Me-
moires" that the Duke of Wellington expressed himself
in the following terms: "Your Paris fortifications have
closed that era of wars of invasion and of rapid marches
against capitals, which Napoleon opened. They have
almost done for you what the ocean has for us. If the
rulers of Europe took my advice, they would all do like-
wise. I don't know whether as a consequence wars would
be less long or less bloody; but they would assuredly be
less revolutionary. You have rendered, by your ex-
ample, a great service to the States and the security of
Europe." 2

In his arguments against the sinking of millions in the
proposed fortifications, Lamartine pointed out that these
vast sums would be infinitely more advantageously in-

1 In the Upper House Count d'Alton Shee defended Lamartine's views.
Cf. Mes mSmoires, vol. II, p. 109.

3 Memoires pour servir d I'histoire de man temps, vol. VI, p. 36.

. . 93 . .

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

vested in the construction of railways. Such railways,
he contended, would be in themselves fortifications, not
only for Paris, but for the national territory, since their
use would permit the rapid transportation of great bodies
of troops to any or all points menaced by the enemy.1

This would lead to the belief that Lamartine foresaw
at this early date possible trouble with Germany. Such
was, however, far from being the case. On the contrary,
Lamartine then believed that an harmonious modus
vivendi could be acccomplished. "Ma politique a moi
est eminemment allemande," he wrote M. de Fontenay
from Geneva on July 29, 1841. And he added: "It is
the only policy which befits this half-century filled with
the Oriental question. Germany is the balance in the
scales of the two great ambitions in the world : it behooves
us not to let her topple over towards Russia or England,
but to combine with her to insure strength and peace." 2

The magnificent verses of the "Marseillaise de la
Paix " were written with this object in view. Alas! for
once his prophetic vision was at fault. Addressing the
majestic Rhine, the poet sings:

"II ne tachera plus le cristal de ton onde,
Le sang rouge du Franc, le sang bleu du Germain;
lis ne crouleront plus sous le caisson qui gronde,
Ces ponts qu'un peuple a l'autre etend comme une main!
Les bombes et l'obus, arc-en-ciel des batailles,
Ne viendront plus s'eteindre en sifflant sur tes bords;
L'enfant ne verra plus, du haut de tes murailles,
Flotter ces poitrails blonds qui perdent leurs entrailles,
Ni sortir des flots ces bras morts!" 3

1 Cf. La France parlementaire, vol. in, p. 420 (October 1, 1843).

1 Correspondance, dcclxxii.

' Cf. Recueillements poetiques. Edgar Quinet, a warm friend and enthusi-
astic admirer, nevertheless reproached Lamartine as being "nuageux de son
esprit." Cf. Paul Gautier. Un Prophite, Edgar Quinet (Paris: Plon, 1917),
p. 290. Quinet published in the Revue des Deux Mondes of June 15, 1841,
a poem entitled "Le Rhin," which is a reply to the "Marseillaise de la
Paix," and which, politically speaking, is far more perspicacious. As is well

. . 94 • .

THE EASTERN QUESTION

The verses are dedicated to Dargaud, who, it is to be
presumed, shared his friend's fantastic vision of the
Latin walking hand in hand with the Hun.

known, Lamartine's ode was itself an answer to the "Rhin allemand," an
impassioned effusion written by the German poet Becker, and by him
dedicated to the great French bard. Cf. Correspondance, dcclxvi; letter to
Madame de Girardin, dated May 17, 1 841.

CHAPTER XXXVI
THE GUIZOT MINISTRY

A great sorrow had overtaken Lamartine in the last
days of August, 1840. His father, nearly ninety years
of age, passed quietly away during his son's absence at
Hyeres, whither the husband and wife had gone in search
of health and for rest from the exacting demands of
politics. "My father had become as a son to me," he
tenderly assures Virieu. "I am like an uprooted tree,
lopped of its branches. ... I cannot leave my wife, for
she suffers as much as I do." 1

Although the Chevalier, as he was invariably styled,
never took so full a place in Lamartine's heart as his
mother had done, the bond which united them had
become closer with years, and the younger man paid ever
more frequent heed to the elder's counsel, based on the
experience of so many conflicting phases of French pub-
lic life during the Great Revolution and the Empire.

When Guizot returned from London to take his place
in the Soult Cabinet (1840), Lamartine was summoned
to Paris, and offered the post just vacated, or, should
he prefer it, the Embassy at Vienna. Both these offers
he politely but firmly declined. Believing that the refusal
concealed some political ambition, Guizot asked Lamar-
tine point-blank the real motives which prompted his
declining this highest favour in the gift of the King.
"Monsieur le Ministre," replied his interlocutor, "if you
insist on knowing the real reasons of my refusal of the royal
favour, it is because you apparently consider me a poli-
tician whose actual views it behooves you to sound."

1 Correspondance, dccxli.
• • 96 • •

THE GUIZOT MINISTRY

"That is certainly so," replied Guizot, "otherwise why
should I insist?" "Well," enigmatically answered La-
martine, "since you consider me a politician, cease ques-
tioning me concerning the motives which guide me, for
were I to confide them to you, I should no longer be
a Statesman worthy of the name." * The date of this
conversation is uncertain. Writing to his sister, Madame
de Cessiat, on October 23, Lamartine had apparently not
yet made up his mind as to the course he would pursue,
for he then says: "I don't think I could decide on entering
a cabinet in which traces of the Coalition persist. Never-
theless, I will wait M. Guizot's return, as he offers me
the portfolio for Foreign Affairs. My own tastes prompt
me to stand aside and gratuitously lend my support to
the new government."2 But a few days later he wrote
M. Ronot, his lawyer at Macon: "On m'annonce, dans
une heure, la visite de M. Guizot pour m'offrir Vinterieur."
And he professes himself ready to accept, for he would
blush, he adds, if he refused to do what he could to avert
the ruin which he foresees. Nevertheless, he expresses
the hope that "doubts as to his capacity and his talents
may prevail," and that he may remain what he prefers
to be — "a good soldier in the ranks." 3 When it came
to the point, however, M. Guizot appears to have re-
considered his offer of the Ministry of the Interior,
the only portfolio Lamartine would consent to accept,4
although maintaining the offer of an embassy, or as
delegate to a possible European Conference on the dip-
lomatic situation. But Lamartine persisted in his reso-
lution to accept the important Home Office or nothing,
for he realized that at best the experiment must be a
hazardous one. "Je ne comprends que les devouements

1 Memoires politiques, vol. I, p. 349.

2 Correspondence, dccxlvi. • Ibid., dccxlix.

* Cf. letter to M. de Champvans of October 29, 1840; Correspond'
ance, dccl.

. . 97 . .

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

utiles, mais non les suicides au profit d'autrui et au detri-
ment des idees," he wrote M. de Champvans.1 Willing
to run risks in a position which guaranteed him a pre-
dominant voice in the conduct of his country's affairs,
he knew that the empty honour of a subordinate cabi-
net rank could only injure the undeniable influence he
wielded in Parliament, and shake the confidence the
public had vested in him. Unless he could lead, he would
not be bound by party ties. It was hardly to be expected
that Guizot would yield to Lamartine's demand for
"une position equiponderante & la sienne" ; had he done
so, he would have constituted a government with two
heads instead of one. But Lamartine's disappointment
was keen. He felt that the two hundred and twenty-one,
who had followed his lead since the days of the Coali-
tion, had vilely abandoned him, and lost him an oppor-
tunity of demonstrating his worth. Without their oppo-
sition, on the ground that his views were too dangerously
liberal, Lamartine was convinced that Guizot would have
agreed to his pretensions for a dual control.2 While he
refused the offer of an embassy he did so with great
personal regret, for, as he wrote Virieu, "C'est l'ideal,
selon moi, d'une belle vie. Mais j'y perdrais la force de
mon desinteressement dans le pays." 3

The harmonious relations between Lamartine and
the Guizot Ministry were to prove short-lived. "If I
have not quarrelled with them in three months, I shall
nevertheless have great difficulty in defending them, even
as a pis aller," he wrote his wife on October 2, 1841.4

1 Correspondence, dccl. "Je n'ambitionne qu'un portefeuille, le minis-
ter e de V opinion publique."

2 Correspondence, dccl; also letter to Virieu, November 4, dccli. No
trace of these negotiations is to be found in Guizot's Memoires; nor does
Thureau-Dangin mention Lamartine's name in connection with the com-
position of the Cabinet.

1 Correspondence, dccli and dcclx.

* Cf. Doumic, Revue des Deux Mondes, September 15, 1908.

..98.-

THE GUIZOT MINISTRY

Disgust with the policy adopted, frustrated personal
ambition, perhaps, and the necessity of clearly denning
to the public eye the nature of the attitude he strove
to assume, were all considerations which gradually
caused him to drift into open opposition to the Govern-
ment he had hitherto upheld. From Macon he wrote his
wife in the same letter quoted above: "Les Republi-
cains se jettent de plus en plus dans mes bras avec es-
time et confiance." When Guizot offered him the Presi-
dency of the Chamber, a position he had at one time
most earnestly desired, he refused. "The role of caryat-
ides is not for me," he said. "It is the counterfeit of
force, not real strength." * He was looked upon, he
said, as the "Lafayette of public opinion," until such
time as he should become the "Casimir Perier de l'or-
dre," an event he prophetically anticipated would take
place within "five or six years." 2 And finally, on Novem-
ber 28, 1842: "For four or five years I shall attempt a
great and generous opposition, then, the out of date pol-
icies of 1830 being exploded, as a last resource they will
throw themselves into our arms. You know that I have
never had a doubt about it. Meanwhile, you will see
me execrated and outraged by both parties. I am ac-
customed to it, and laugh at it. And not only do I laugh
over it, but I make use of it. A wave wets you, but it
carries you forward. So it is with the wrath of parties." 3
These quotations suffice to show the drift of Lamartine's
politics after the defeat of the Coalition. M. Doumic
believes that this determination to break with the Guizot
Ministry was not dictated either by his defeat in the
election for the Presidency of the Chamber, or by the Pre-
mier's refusal to meet his wishes concerning the Home
Office. These incidents may have hastened his action,

1 Doumic, Revue des Deux Mondes, September 15, 1908.

* Op. tit., letter of July 12, 1842. ■ Op. tit., February 20, 1842.

. . 99 . .

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

but they did not determine it. The eminent French critic
is convinced that Lamartine's action was the logical
consequence of his disapproval of what he calls "la
pensee du regne et le systeme tout entier." The policy
he followed was, indeed, a personal one, a species of duel
between a regime and an individual opponent.1 The
phrase describes very accurately the relations existing
(especially after 1843) between the ever more independent
free-lance and the reactionary tendencies of the Govern-
ment of July.

Meanwhile Lamartine's private and public life was
very full — full of interest, full of disappointment and
of sorrow. On May 17, 1 841, he wrote Madame de Girar-
din: "I am more sad than ever, distressed in heart and
spirit, in soul and concerning personal affairs, to say
nothing of physical ills, and because before my eyes lies
dying that poor, charming young M. de Pierreclos." 2
L6on de Pierreclos, as has been mentioned, was the son
of one of Lamartine's closest friends, who, on his death-
bed, had confided the boy to his care. Henceforth, in all
but name, he had been the poet's son. All through the
published correspondence we find mention of the young
man, and several letters addressed to him have been in-
cluded in the selection Madame Valentine de Cessiat
gave to the world after her uncle's death. Unfortunately
many of these letters have been curtailed, whole pas-
sages being suppressed. M. Louis Barthou, who possesses
a number of letters not included in the published cor-
respondence, has recently (1912) given a very interest-
ing explanation of the real relationship which existed
between Lamartine and the beautiful Nina de Pierreclos
as early as 1813.3 If his hypothesis is correct, it would

1 Doumic, Revue des Deux Monies, September 15, 1908; also the same
author's Lamartine, p. 91.

2 Correspondance, dcclxvi.

1 "En Marge des ' Confidences,'" Revue de Paris, March I, 1912.

. . IOO • •

THE GUIZOT MINISTRY

fully explain the lifelong care and devotion Lamartine
lavished upon the young man, whose education he super-
vised, and for whose maintenance he provided. In April,
1838, Leon married Alix de Cessiat, the poet's niece,
much to the joy of all concerned. Never of robust consti-
tution, the young man's health gradually declined, and
he died at Macon on July 26, 1841. Lamartine was in
Geneva when the fatal news reached him. "Son dernier
mot, une minute avant sa mort, a ete un adieu et un
remerciement a moi ..." wrote the grief -stricken guard-
ian to Madame de Girardin.1 The loss was a severe
one to him ; whatever may have been the nature of their
relationship, all goes to prove that Lamartine's interest
in the troublesome schoolboy, and later in the gifted
young man, was an absorbing one. In later years he
had been accustomed to write to L6on with the unre-
strained confidence he used when corresponding with
Virieu, imparting to him his political worries, his ambi-
tions, and treating him in fact as an intellectual equal
whose opinion, even on questions of statesmanship, he
would welcome.2

It was only three months before this (April, 1841), that
the death of Aymon de Virieu had come as a stunning
blow. The bond which bound these two friends for well-
nigh forty years of closest intimacy had never slackened.
To Virieu, Lamartine opened his innermost heart and
laid bare the most sacred secrets of his soul. As a critic
of his literary work Lamartine trusted implicitly his
friend's taste and judgment, submitting to his opinion
every important production of his pen. If, since 1830,

1 Correspondan.ee, dcclxxiii.

2 Ibid., dcxcvi, dccxxvi, dcclv, dcclvii, dcclx. Writing to Madame de
Girardin from the bedside of the dying young man Lamartine says: "C'est
un spectacle dechirant que la separation lente de sa femme et de lui. lis
s'adorent. II m'aimait bien aussi, et je m'y attachais sensiblement pour
lui-mgme, bien plus que pour ce que Von croit." Correspondance, dcclxviii.

• • IOI • •

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

political differences had existed between the two, Lamar-
tine had endeavoured to explain his conduct on every
occasion, and, when possible, cheerfully accepted Virieu's
not always lenient criticism. An uncompromising Legit-
imist, more and more subjected to clerical influences
and the narrow provincialism his self-inflicted isolation
made inevitable, Virieu could profess no sympathy
with the social and democratic reforms which were the
basis of Lamartine's political philosophy. In spite of a
certain hostility displayed, the poet-statesman clung
to this friendship of his youth and early manhood with
touching persistency, endeavouring with all his might to
regain the tottering affection and dispel erroneous im-
pressions. As M. des Cognets has justly remarked:
"Pour le seul Virieu, il a depense plus d'eloquence, plus
d'adresse et plus de perseverance que pour tous les par-
lements de Louis-Philippe et les foules revolutionnaires." 1
Before making any important decision Lamartine in-
variably hesitated and asked himself: "What would
Virieu think of it?" Well might he cry out that in this
loss the affection of a lifetime was taken from him, and
bow down his head in bitterest anguish, turning in de-
spair to that other member of the boyish trio, Guichard
de Bienassis.2

Moreover, financial worries, from which he was rarely
free, were again particularly acute at this period. Mat-
ters were apparently so serious that he even considered
the advisability of resigning his seat in Parliament, and
withdrawing to Saint-Point, there to supervise person-
ally the administration of his large but heavily encum-
bered estates. A loan was imperative: but he experi-
enced difficulty with the negotiations he had in hand.
To Madame de Girardin and the Marquis de la Grange
he opened himself with entire frankness. At least two

1 La Vie interieure de Lamartine, p. 305. 2 Correspondance, DCCLXIV.

• • 102 • •

THE GUIZOT MINISTRY

hundred thousand francs was necessary to set him on
his feet again. Apparently Madame de Girardin had
suggested an appeal to the Rothschilds, for he admits
when writing her that the idea is a good one. " If he would
lend me two hundred thousand francs for seven years at
five per cent, and be content with a mortgage on an es-
tate worth six hundred thousand francs, burdened with
only a first mortgage of two hundred and thirty-five
thousand, he would save me from other necessities, of
which my resignation is the first." 1 To M. de la Grange
he wrote a few days later in much the same strain. The
sum he needs to tide over the next seven years, without
throwing up his political work, is the same, but he offers
for mortgage two estates worth together one million four
hundred thousand francs, encumbered only to the extent
of four hundred and sixty-five thousand francs. "Mon
parti est pris," he added, "de me retirer de tout, meme du
conseil municipal, dans quatre mois, si je ne trouve pas
a assurer mes affaires." 2 The trip to Geneva, where the
news of Leon's death reached him, was undertaken with
the object of obtaining financial aid from bankers in
that town. A financier from Paris had, indeed, visited the
estates, and professed himself pleased with the general
condition of the land, and "delighted with the vines and
my labourers and their happy, well-housed families."
He said he now understood the mysterious allusion in the
"Courrier de Paris" describing Lamartine as "le pre-
mier agriculteur de France." "But will he advance me
money on this moral asset, at a moral rate of interest?
That is the question. He will give me his answer in a
month." 3

Details as to the negotiations are lacking, but early in
October Lamartine reported to M. de la Grange that
although his affairs were not settled, they were bettered

1 Correspondance, dcclxvui. * Ibid., dcclxix. 3 Ibid., dcclxxi.

. • 103 • •

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

for a year to come, and the necessity for renouncing
public life was for the nonce postponed.1

During the recess Lamartine continued to fill his
houses with company calculated to keep him in touch
with, the political thought of France, and to follow the
rapidly succeeding phases of the home and international
situations with keenest interest. Although he strongly
disapproved the policy of the Government, he was de-
termined to maintain a respectful attitude towards the
Crown, not from sympathy with the dynasty, as we
know, but on account of the authority it represented.
"Remember," he wrote to M. de Champvans, "remem-
ber that one never insults the statue of a saint without
bespattering Religion itself." And he adds, "The religion
of the Tuileries is prerogatives." Nevertheless, he was
fully alive to the peril of the ministerial crisis ; but, real-
izing his personal impotency to avert a catastrophe, he
was determined to await the issue and reserve his final
action. "Then, if I am still of this world, and of the par-
liamentary world, it is probable that a great wave of
terror will place the broken tiller in my hand: I persist
in this belief: a tempest or nothing." 2 In Macon his posi-
tion with the Left was assured. That when the hour
of trouble came, the party would turn to him he never
doubted. " I am more of a revolutionary than the dema-
gogues, but I am a revolutionist in the name of a Power
possessed of a Will, and not in the name of the horde
of scribblers, possessing only passions." He styled him-
self "le grand et honnete democrate en reserve," the man
to whom they must turn when all else failed.1 Presump-
tuous as the words must sound, how true was the instinct
which prompted their utterance.

During the summer and autumn of 1841 which Lamar-
tine passed in the country near Macon, now at Saint-
1 Correspondence, dcclxxvi. * Ibid., dcclxxvii. * Ibid., dcclxxvii.
• • 104 ■ •

THE GUIZOT MINISTRY

Point, now at Monceau, the frequent letters he received
from Emile de Girardin and his accomplished wife had
kept him in close touch with the political world. As
has been said, his name was mentioned for the Presi-
dency of the Chamber, but although he undoubtedly
desired the honour, he never put himself forward as an
official candidate. And this for the two reasons which he
advanced when requesting M. de Girardin not to push
his canvass in his newspaper "La Presse." "Firstly,"
wrote Lamartine, "it is a neutral position, and I only
like militant and active positions. Secondly, it is the
decorative side of a political career, not its strength."
Lastly, he felt that far from enhancing his political
standing, the consideration he might win, or lose, as
arbiter in parliamentary disputes, might be utilized to
greater advantage in his capacity of a simple deputy, free
to attack or defend according to circumstances. At the
same time, he was not averse to his name being brought
forward "platonically," for the votes he obtained would
be an evidence to the world that his colleagues appre-
ciated his political worth. Nor would he refuse the
honour were it bestowed upon him : but he would accept
with "repugnance." The sincerity of the last phrase of
this confidential letter cannot be doubted. The writer
acknowledges the disappointments political life has
brought him, and professes an inclination to throw up
the game and remain in his country solitude, "his feet in
his wooden shoes." "J 'en serais bien tente," he sighs,
"si ce n'etait de ce diable au corps politique que je ne
puis chasser de moi depuis l'age de raison et qui me tien-
dra, j'en ai peur, jusqu'a l'age ou Ton n'en a plus." ! As
a matter of fact, his chances had never been great, and
when the election took place, Lamartine obtained but
sixty-four votes against one hundred and ninety-three

1 Correspondence, dcclxxxvi.
• • 105 • •

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

given in favour of M. Sauzet. The meagre support he
received came, as was to be expected after his recent pri-
vate and public expressions of sympathy, chiefly from the
Liberal elements in the Chamber — a significant indica-
tion that his policy was mistrusted by the Conserva-
tives, who failed to appreciate the radical parliamentary
and electoral reforms he upheld.

Early in December, 1841, Lamartine returned to Paris,
and in February of the following year took part in the
debate, urging an extension of the suffrage, and the abol-
ishment of certain restrictions hampering the election of
deputies. This speech,1 moderate in form, but suggestive
of the radical transformations the speaker was prepared to
welcome, was his last concession to the "majority" which
lent its support to the Guizot Ministry. "La semaine
prochaine, je commencerai a parler en homme de grande
opposition," he wrote next day, and indeed he felt that
the time had come when in a democracy where public
opinion was sovereign, the people should be relieved to
the utmost of legal restrictions fettering their choice of the
men who were to represent them. The doctrines he now
advanced were but the logical sequence of those he had
professed in 1831, when writing, from London, to M.
Saullay, who was acting as his electoral agent in Bergues,
during his canvass for that district. "When the country
is well settled down," he had then insisted, "when politi-
cal truth and liberty shall have penetrated all the social
strata, furnishing them with the needful light and ac-
tion, France will walk alone, and any man she selects
will be worthy of her confidence." 2 When he spoke
"Sur les deputes fonctionnaires publics," Lamartine him-
self believed his speech had produced an unparalleled
impression on the Chamber.3 Be this as it may, the com-

1 "Sur les deputes fonctionnaires publics," February II, 1842.

2 Cf. Cochin, op. cit., p. 369. * Cones pondancc, dcclxxxviii.

• • I06 • •

THE GUIZOT MINISTRY

plement to the measures then proposed, contained in his
speech of four days later, greatly exceeded in popularity
his previous effort. The motion which he had com-
bated in his first speech had been brought forward by
M. Ganneron, who contended that deputies who were
not salaried public servants at the time of their election
should be forbidden to become such during their term of
office, and for the year following their return to private
life. This measure, although it tended to lessen the in-
fluence of the Ministry over the Chamber, was objected
to by Lamartine on the ground that it would exclude
from office the very men best fitted by experience and
talent for rendering good service to the country. But
if he had felt constrained to lend his aid to the Govern-
ment in this instance, M. Guizot's determined opposi-
tion to an extension of the electorate, or of popular power
or privilege in any form, made it clear that the moment
had come when he must combat the reaction which would
inevitably result.

The opportunity came in a motion by M. Ducos for
an extension of the electorate by giving votes to all whose
names figured on the departmental list of jurymen. " Je
viens de sauter un grand fosse au milieu d'un or age inoui
dans la Chambre," he wrote M. Ronot, of Macon, after
the vigorous attack on the Government contained in his
harangue of February 15.1 The ditch he leaped was to
separate him once and for all, not only from M. Guizot,
but from the regime in which he had lost all faith and
confidence. Henceforth Lamartine belonged frankly and
openly to the Opposition, and if he did not shift his seat
to the benches of the Left, his support or sympathy was
gradually withdrawn from the party with which he had
previously been most frequently identified. The policy

1 Correspondence, dcclxxxix, "Sur l'adjonction de la liste departemen-
tale du jury"; cf. La France parlementaire, vol. in, p. 153.

107

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

of M. Guizot, which he had compared to a '-boundary
stone" {borne),1 convinced him that in that quarter no
hopes could be cherished of a liberal and progressive
social action. As he told his hearers on this memorable
occasion, he himself was one of those who believed that
the political, moral, and social world must be continu-
ally transformed in the effort to improve its conditions:
an obscure worker, who had devoted life and energy to
this task, his ambition was to introduce "slowly, labori-
ously, prudently, some few new ideas into the compact
and immutable mass of accepted theories and changeless
social dogma." 2 The attack was a direct challenge to
the doctrinaires, who since 1830 had resisted stubbornly
every measure calculated to spread amongst the peo-
ple the principles of individual liberty. Turning to M.
Guizot, who had just entered the Chamber, the speaker
addressed him directly, accusing him of the pass to which
France had been brought in her foreign policy. In the
interests of their country the orator pleaded with his
colleagues not to reject a proposition which tended to
infuse live, active, and patriotic forces into the electorate,
strengthen their position at home and abroad, and imbue
the body politic with fresh energy to resist the dangers
which a European coalition might engender.3

This speech is tantamount to a declaration of prin-
ciples, for in it Lamartine gives evidence of the normal
and logical evolution of his political creed. As long as a
ministry gives promise of being in accord with the needs
of the country, he is ready and willing to second the
efforts he discerns. But should he detect an inclination
to retard the regular and gradual social progress a demo-
cratic state has the right to expect, his influence is trans-
ferred to the party offering more substantial guarantees

1 Cf. speech of February 15, 1842, La France parlementaire, vol. in, p. 167.

2 Cf. La France parlementaire, vol. in, p. 157. 8 Ibid., p. 169.

• • I08 • •

THE GUIZOT MINISTRY

for the furtherance of the ideal he has enshrined in his
political conscience. "If immobility is the one thing re-
quired of a government," he told Guizot, "it is quite
superfluous to have ministers; boundary stones would
suffice." Public opinion immediately adopted the catch-
word, contemptuously styling the party, "Conserva-
teurs-bornes." "Ce ne fut que lorsqu'il desespera d'un
pouvoir aveugle, immobile, inerte, implacable a toute
amelioration, qu'il se tourna decidement vers l'opposi-
tion," wrote M. Louis Ulbach.1 But once the step taken,
he was to go far. Although the doctrinaires scoffed at
Lamartine's eloquence, disdainfully comparing it as
borne on the wings of a swan and a sparrow, symbolizing
imagination and lack of reason,2 they nevertheless sought
to attach the brilliant orator to the party in power.
But his reason convinced him that by clinging to the old
system of the electorate, which gave the vote to only two
hundred and twenty thousand electors out of a popu-
lation of over thirty millions, the Government was hurry-
ing France to a new crisis, one likely to overwhelm the
Crown itself. The peril, he felt, was immeasurably in-
creased when, on July 13, 1842, Paris and all France were
shocked by the terrible death of the heir to the throne.
The Due d'Orleans, it will be remembered, was killed by
jumping from his carriage when the horses ran away in
the Chemin de la Revoke, on his way to Saint-Cloud
to visit his father. In the case of the demise of the aged
Louis-Philippe, the disappearance of the direct heir
meant a long regency, for the duke's eldest son 3 was a
mere child. "Regencies are the hot-beds of parties," 4
Lamartine wrote Dargaud, and the writer knew too well

1 La France parlementaire, vol. in, p. 153.

2 Cf. letter from Doudan to Madame de Lascours, March II, 1843,
cited by Deschanel, op. cit., vol. n, p. 134.

3 The Comte de Paris, then only four years of age.

4 Correspondance, dccxciv.

• • 109 • •

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

the bitter hatred existing between factions not to dread
the consequences in a house divided against itself. Nor
was Lamartine alone in recognizing the danger a regency
might give rise to. Writing to his brother shortly after
the news reached London, Lord Palmerston declared
that the death of the Due d'Orleans was a calamity af-
fecting not only France but Europe.

Although slightly anticipating the sequence of cur-
rent events, it would seem advisable to set on record here
Lamartine's objections to the steps the Government ad-
vocated, should the question of a regency arise in the near
future. Two courses were open to the Crown and country :
should a general law be promulgated fixing in advance
the conditions which should prevail for a regency in the
case of any minority, or should a regency in this special
case alone be organized? In a word, the question lay be-
tween a regency based on the principle of next of kin, and
an elective regency, established on the basis of personal
fitness. The King, not unnaturally, preferred the former
solution as being more in accord with dynastic tradition.
Moreover, he feared, in the case of an elective regency,
the influences which must inevitably be brought to bear
by party passions, and even family jealousies.1 The will
of the late Duke named his wife as guardian of her sons
and of their private property, and appointed the Due de
Nemours, his brother, as regent during the minority of
the heir to the throne. This arrangement coincided with
the opinion of the Government, and M. Guizot intro-
duced a bill providing that, in default of an adult male
heir, the regency should legally devolve on the next of
kin; to the exclusion of females, however. While some
held that the Monarchy of July owed its existence to an
elective system, and contended that the regency should,
in consequence, be elective, the majority was in favour

1 Thureau-Dangin, op. cit., vol. v, p. 95.

. . no- •

THE GUIZOT MINISTRY

of a law which should regulate once for all a question
capable of giving rise to dangerous discussion. Nor did
M. Odilon Barrot's contention, that the principles of
democratic monarchy demanded that the people and
not the Chamber should elect a regent, meet with any
success.

Lamartine, who spoke on the matter at the opening
of the debate, professed himself contrary to the opinion
set forth by the Government, while acknowledging that
the question presented a choice of difficulties, "perhaps
only a choice of faults," as to the future. That the Du-
chesse d'Orleans should be set aside appeared to him in
the present instance a gross injustice, while the principle
excluding females from exercising the regency was one
at variance with the whole history of France. Notwith-
standing the Salic law twenty-six women had been ap-
pointed regents in the thirty-two cases when the emer-
gency had arisen in France. "The law which you propose
is neither conservative nor dynastic," he objected; "it
is a usurpation of the mother's rights, and places a com-
petitor and a rival in her stead." l That the Duchess was
a Protestant had no weight with the speaker, for by the
fact that the law left the education of her children to the
mother she could, unknown to the regent, inculcate her
faith in her offspring ; a circumstance they could not con-
trol ; and besides, the principle of religious tolerance em-
bodied in the representative of a great empire could only
add to the dignity and power of religion itself. This
speech, writes M. Thureau-Dangin, was the event of the
day which inaugurated the long and complicated debate.
"Le poete etait-il encore du centre ou deja de la gauche?
On eut ete embarrasse de repondre. A vrai dire, c'etait

1 La France parlementaire, vol. in, p. 244. Lamartine cites twenty-three
out of twenty-eight regents in European history as having usurped the
throne of their wards.

. . in . .

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

un isole et un fantaisiste." * This appreciation is mani-
festly tinged by the excessive partisanship of the au-
thor. But there is no denying that Lamartine laid him-
self open to misrepresentation, by reason of what must
appear as attacks directed against the dynasty itself.
"We do not want to slide from a national government to a
dynastic gbvernment; exclusively dynastic," he asserted.
"The dynasty must be national, not the Nation dynas-
tic." And he asks his hearers whither this continual
encroachment on popular liberties will lead them. Will
not the people begin to question the efficiency of revolu-
tions made in their name? — an allusion to the political
trickery which inaugurated the July Monarchy. Will not
the friends of constitutional liberty accuse the dynasty
of an attempt to filch prerogatives which belong by
right to the Nation? Far be it from him, Lamartine, to
deny the dynasty his respectful sympathy in times of
bereavement such as these.2 But he refused to lend him-
self to a measure which must foster intrigue and conse-
quent peril to the State. The natural rights of the mother
must be maintained. Europe would proclaim the fail-
ure of the Constitutional Monarchy and the liberties
France had established, should they sanction the odious
exclusion of maternal rights and banish the mother
from the steps of the throne her son was to occupy. The
contrast is great between Lamartine's present attitude
and that which he adopted six years later, when the
Duchess and her child sought his aid in establishing a
regency after the flight of Louis-Philippe. But those
six years had been witness of the futility of the system

1 Histoire de la monarchie de Juillet, vol. v, p. 101.

2 The address of condolence from the Chamber on the occasion of the
Due d 'Orleans's death was entirely composed by Lamartine, who had been
appointed chairman of the committee charged with this duty. " This spon-
taneous expression of the sentiments of the Chamber and of the country
was voted without discussion." Cf. La France parlementaire, vol. m, p. 241.

• • 112 • •

THE GUIZOT MINISTRY

1830 had devised, and Lamartine knew full well he could
not arrest the flood, nor stay the march of destiny, even
had he so desired.

Lamartine's brilliant speech produced such an effect
on his colleagues that M. Guizot deemed it prudent to
attempt an immediate refutation of the arguments ad-
vanced.1 Both he and the King felt that every effort must
be exerted to pass the law without amendments, "such
as the Commission had unanimously adopted it." 2
But in spite of the arguments brought to bear, the opin-
ions of Lamartine and De Tocqueville found support
with the Left, whose spokesman, M. Odilon Barrot,
seconded their efforts. It is interesting to note M. Gui-
zot's personal opinion of Lamartine's political ability
at a period when the two statesmen were in daily con-
flict. "... I believe that even M. de Lamartine's
friends do not accord him full justice as an orator and
political writer," generously admits his antagonist in his
" Memoires " : "it is as a poet he made his debut, and
that he captured, very justly, the admiration of the pub-
lic. Many people, sincerely or maliciously, take advan-
tage of this to discern in him only the poet, and to admire
him on this account rather than another. It is said that
he himself is vexed by this point of view, and that he
places his political achievement far ahead of his verses.
Without taking sides, or making comparisons, I have
been struck by the superior qualities M. de Lamartine
has evinced both as an orator and as a writer of prose."
And the writer goes on to praise the style and elevation
of the poet's political speeches, and the noble reasoning
he brings to bear upon what M. Guizot calls "des
mauvaises causes." "He upheld brilliantly that of the

1 Thureau-Dangin, op. cit., vol. v, p. 102.

2 Letter from Louis-Philippe to Guizot, August 9, 1842; cf. also Thureau-
Dangin, op. cit., vol. v, p. 104.

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

maternal regency, the same which at a later date he
was instrumental in so tragically wrecking" (February,
1848).1

The versatility of Lamartine's talents had been still
further demonstrated during the preceding session (Feb-
ruary to May, 1842), by his speeches on the abolition of
slavery (March 10); on the railway from Paris to the
Mediterranean (April 30 and May 11); and a very bril-
liant discourse in defence of the Right of Search (May
20) which had been instituted for the suppression of the
slave trade between the four Great Powers, on a basis of
complete reciprocity, but the ratification of which M.
Guizot's Government experienced the greatest difficulty
in obtaining from the Chamber, and which, in fact, much
to the Premier's humiliation, it was found necessary to
withdraw owing to the temper of his country. On this
occasion Lamartine, who had pleaded eloquently for the
ratification of a treaty which in no way affected the na-
tional honour, as its adversaries proclaimed, based his
support of the Government's action on purely humanita-
rian grounds. But he made no secret of the painful im-
pression Lord Palmerston's pretensions had caused him
personally, and could not forget England's slight of
French susceptibilities during the recent negotiations
over the Eastern Question.2 Nevertheless, he advocated
the ratification.

As might naturally have been expected, the question
of literary copyright, which arose in the Chamber dur-
ing the session of the preceding year, was the occasion
of one of his most masterly orations. Owing to his special
knowledge of the subject, Lamartine was appointed
chairman of the commission which studied the technical

1 Memoires pour servir a I'histoire de mon temps, vol. vn, p. 30.
* La France parlementaire, vol. Hi, p. 212. It was Circourt who fur-
nished Lamartine with all his data. Cf. Correspondance, vol. IV, p. 147.

• • 114 • .

THE GUIZOT MINISTRY

details of the bill for the protection of intellectual prop-
erty the Government was desirous of introducing. The
subject was practically a new one, for the brief outline
of the decrees of 1791, 1793, and 1810 afforded no sub-
stantial basis on which to construct the complicated juris-
prudence necessitated by the requirements of modern
times. The Government now desired to grant a period of
thirty years after the death of the author, for the enjoy-
ment by his family, or legal heirs, of all the privileges of
literary and artistic copyright. After careful study La-
martine and the committee over which he presided es-
timated that this was not sufficient, and that equity de-
manded that fifty years should be allowed to elapse
before the intellectual product of the writer or the artist
became public property. The report which Lamartine
introduced during the session of 1841 * was an exhaus-
tive analytical study of the question, and, but slightly
modified, constitutes the basis of the law of to-day, which
has admitted the equity of the fifty years claimed by
the framer of the original bill.

Prior to the official report Lamartine exchanged
(through the journal "La Presse") a lengthy correspond-
ence with M. Emile de Girardin, whose opinions on the
subject were greatly at variance with those he himself held.
It is in one of these letters that he makes use of an expres-
sion prophetically applicable to his own later years, "ce
martyre qu'on appelle la vie d'un homme de genie." 2
Girardin advocated a system, styled by Lamartine "the
expropriation of thought," which provided that during
the life of an author a publisher might edit his works on
payment to him, or his heirs, of one tenth of the sale
price of the work. The abuses to which this radical sys-
tem must inevitably give rise were so apparent that they
were easily demonstrated. The matter is mentioned here

',* March 13. 2 La France parlementaire, vol. m, p. 67.

• • 115 • •

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

merely in order to quote a characteristic phrase of La-
martine's, giving utterance to the principle which guided
his political and social action through life. "Les idees
radicales," he assured his correspondent, "ne resolvent
rien, elles tranchent tout, comme Tepee d'Alexandre;
mais, en tranchant la difficulte, elles tranchent les prin-
cipes, les droits, les interets, et quelquefois les tetes. Ce
sont les impatiences de la pensee. Le vrai genie ne blesse
et ne tue rien, il organise et il reforme."1 It would take
too much space to enumerate here the arguments used
to convince the Chamber of the equity of the measures
the commission proposed : suffice it to say that to-day all
are recognized and adopted, although seventy years ago
many were considered unfeasible, and the generous ef-
forts of the chairman were practically sterile. After the
vote on the Regency, which resulted in a victory for M.
Guizot's Government, Parliament was prorogued (Au-
gust 29), the opening of the new session being fixed for
January 9, 1843.

1 La France parlementaire, vol. in, p. 71.

CHAPTER XXXVII
CHURCH AND STATE

On his return to Saint-Point, Lamartine hastened to
acknowledge his debt to Count de Circourt for the as-
sistance he had lent him in the recent debate. " It is you
who so admirably quarried and shaped all the stones with
which I built my opinions of the Regency law: to you
therefore go both glory and gratitude." l

Mention has been made that Cavour did not enter-
tain admiration for the French deputy. Writing to the
Comtesse de Circourt on March 15, 1844, the great
Italian statesman says: "I am sorry not to be able to
share any of your impressions of M. de Lamartine; but
I must confess that his speech concerning the fortifica-
tions seemed to me unworthy of his talent. It is com-
posed of a series of declamatory phrases and platitudes
such as a political man of the deputy from Macon's
worth should not presume to employ." 2 Cavour was evi-
dently in the dark as to the part Circourt had taken in
the preparation of the speech, which he considered one
of his friend's "plus belles pages."3 His admiration
for Anastasie de Klustine, the friend of Bonstetten and
Sismondi, when he met her in Geneva, had been sincere,
and as Madame de Circourt, the charming Russian had
lost nothing of her hold over the respectful devotion of
the young Piedmontese, who assiduously frequented her
salon in Paris. Writing to Mr. Lee-Childe, Mr. Charles
Eliot Norton, criticizing Saint-Beuve's mention of the

1 Correspondance, dccxcviii.

2 Nigra, Le Comte de Cavour et la Comtesse de Circourt, p. 63.

* Cf. Georges Bourgin, Souvenirs d'une mission a Berlin, vol. I, p. xlvi.

• • 117 • •

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

lady in his "Portraits de femmes," says : "... But I wish
that he had drawn her character with fuller delineation
of the traits that made her exceptional and gave to her
so rare an attraction. I was about to write ' attractive-
ness,' but she had perhaps too much finesse, and her nat-
ural sentiment had been too much intellectualized to
leave her this charm. Is it too subtile a distinction to
say that one was attracted to her, rather than attracted
by her? Are there any salons such as hers left? Is
there a single salon in Paris in which ' Intelligence
donne comme droit de cite,' without question of party
in politics or in philosophy?" ■

During the parliamentary recess of 1842, Lamartine
was busily engaged at Macon in furthering the liberally
democratic principles of which he was the recognized
apostle. In September we find him addressing the schol-
ars of the normal school of his native province, telling
them that they live in a democratic era: under social
conditions where all are interested in moralizing, in add-
ing strength and dignity to popular institutions; wherein
a man is considered only by virtue of his morality and
his intelligence, and wherein caste with its privileges and
tyranny can find no place. "Light and liberty are in-
separable ; we desire to shed light wherever we have ven-
tured to proclaim liberty. You are the missionaries of
intelligence. Go forth in its name." 2 A few days later
(September 12, 1842) it is to the members and guests of
the Literary Academy of Mcicon that he preaches the
gospel of human progress, with its train of industrial and
commercial satellites; lauding the benefits which accrue

1 Letters of Charles Eliot Norton, vol. 1, p. 62, note. Concerning Cir-
court's aid to Lamartine cf. also Huber-Saladin, Le Comte de Circourt,
p. 64: ". . . Le poete devenu homme politique avait besoin, pour preparer
ses discours, m£me les plus olympiens, de documents terrestres: c'est a
lerudition obligeante de Circourt qu'il avait recours pour nourrir de faits
et de textes ses eloquents impromptus." Cf. Bourgin, op. cit., vol. I, p. xxv.

2 La France parlementaire, vol. in, p. 269.

• • Il8 • •

CHURCH AND STATE

to the masses by the introduction of machinery into the
social and economic life of the country. The address con-
tains a remark in reference to the awakening of China
which is not without interest in connection with contem-
poraneous developments in that country. Speaking of
the opium war which England had provoked, Lamar-
tine, a confirmed optimist as we know, practically ex-
cuses it in the interests of civilization: "... Who knows
but that the cannon fired by a merchant vessel at the
beginning of the war with China has forced open the
doors of a new world? Who can deny that it will per-
haps unite four hundred millions of men with the great
union of European peoples? And if this be the case, as
I doubt not, what a future, gentlemen!" x And again
he dwells on the necessity for the construction of the
Suez Canal, "that route which shall unite two con-
tinents."

Turning to the burning social problems of the day (of
all time, alas!), the speaker sees in the development of
industry, and the extension of State control, not the cure,
but a mitigation of many social evils. In a word, he
insists that politics should, by the help of science and an
efficient administration, do for the people what religion
has accomplished in other ways; that is to say, afford
humanity relief from unnecessary sufferings, moral or
physical. The political economist in Lamartine is awak-
ened in the course of this harangue to the dangers of
trades-unionism, then a mere black speck on the indus-
trial horizon, but a speck his prophetic vision discerned
with growing uneasiness. After insisting on the principle
of the freedom of labour, and the benefits of open and
loyal competition in all the fields of human industry, the
speaker adds: "The secrets of the future are inscrutable;
but according to our lights to-day, and our present

1 La France parlementaire, vol. in, p. 274.
• • 119 • •

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

knowledge, we ourselves believe that liberty still means
justice, and that to dream of the forcible and arbitrary
organization of labour is equivalent to dreaming of the
resurrection of the castes of India, instead of the rising
equality of the modern world, and of the tyranny of
labour, instead of its independence and retribution ac-
cording to worth." But a middle course is open to the
State, he asserts, by which to regulate and define the
relations between capital and labour, between the ex-
orbitant cupidity of industrialism and the equitable
claims of the elements necessary to its riches. Let the
State intervene, carefully avoiding, however, any sem-
blance of arbitrary interference between the manufacturer
and the workman, between the consumer and the pro-
ducer, between labour and its free remuneration. The
intervention of the State should be attended with the full
force of its administrative authority, but only for the
protection of those in need of its aid and in accordance
with the common weal. In a word, the State shall act the
r61e of "that invisible Providence" to which humanity
turns in times of distress and turmoil. If, carried away
by the transcendentalism of this theme, the speaker (as
was so often the case) weakened the practical aspect
of his contention by the too profuse introduction of the
abstract, the basis of his argument could scarcely be
attacked. We have but to glance about us to-day to
see his theories put in practice. "Cette passion de l'ame-
lioration de l'humanit6 sous toutes ses formes, c'est la
passion caracteristique du siecle ou nous vivons." It is
also the dominating note of the twentieth century : but the
impulse was given by the men who, like Lamartine,
sought inspiration in the eternal truths incarnated in
the precepts of the Revolution of 1789, " sainement com-
pris et moralement consider es" as he would have its
doctrines understood. If we have dwelt at considerable

• • 120 • •

CHURCH AND STATE

length on this forgotten address, delivered before a pro-
vincial learned society, it is with two objects in view.
Firstly, because the discourse provides an exceptionally
clear synopsis of Lamartine's convictions on some of the
social problems of the hour; and secondly, as demonstra-
tive of eagerness to seize upon every opportunity, offi-
cial and non-official, for the propaganda of the reforms
it was his constant aim to make effective. The speech, or
rather its principles, were attacked as revolutionary by
some, as pantheistic in its philosophy by others. And yet,
as Lamartine himself observes, Fenelon would not have
argued otherwise, although he would have expressed
himself better.1 "Ou servir des idees, ou rien, voila ma
devise," he wrote the Marquis de la Grange, shortly
afterwards. uLe temps ne garde memoire que de ceux
qui lui on legue quelquechose." 2 His ambition was to
dower posterity with the intellectual and material
franchise every man had the right to expect in a free
state, administered under liberal and humane laws, no
longer for the benefit of the few, but for the masses,
whose claims to light and progress could no longer be
ignored. Few men have followed this aim more unself-
ishly or at the cost of greater personal sacrifices of time
and fortune: few were raised to greater heights of popu-
lar adulation, or plunged to greater depths of humilia-
tion and despair.

"J'aime celui qui reve 1' impossible," said Goethe.
If Lamartine dreamed the unattainable, it was a noble
chimera which haunted him ; and he battled in a noble
cause, for it was the emancipation of humanity he sought.
This autumn of 1842 was a busy one, full of crowded
work and play. " I have led, and am still leading, an
infernal life. I have not a day of peace," wrote Lamartine
to the Marquis de la Grange, from Saint-Point, on

1 Correspondance, dccc. * Ibid., DCCCUI.

• • 121 • •

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

October 5. Despite financial stringency the host had,
indeed, plunged recklessly into hospitalities of all sorts.
Three hundred and twelve guests attended a banquet at
his expense, and from eighteen to twenty friends lodged
under his roof simultaneously.1 But although he writes
Madame de Girardin, a month later, that he has given
up writing verses, it was not because of the stir and
bustle of his present life alone. He professes to be too old
to indulge in such childishness. "La rime me fait rougir
de honte. Sublime enf an tillage dont je ne veux plus." 2
"Philosophy and politics," he sees nothing beyond, "et
cela se fait en prose." As M. Doumic writes, henceforth
action definitely takes the place of dreams. "The poet
effaces himself before the orator, who stands among
the greatest, and without ceasing to be an orator, be-
comes an historian. Out of the work accomplished in a
few years, out of the historical romance and lyrical his-
tory, emanates so powerful an impetus, so great an up-
heaval, that a throne is overthrown and the destinies of
the country are modified." 8 This is no exaggeration:
within six years his prose had impelled the intellectual
world to the gesture which made inevitable the popular
outburst of February, 1848. "Je ferai l'insurrection de
l'ennui," he threatened in his letter to Madame de Gi-
rardin, "une revolution pour secouer un cauchemar." 4
The "nightmare" was, of course, the unprogressive,
not to say retrograde, policy pursued by the Guizot Min-
istry, whose systematic indifference to the reforms La-
martine advocated had driven him into active opposition.
"Je crois 1'opposition n6cessaire, a grandes doses, a une
situation lethargique," he told M. de Girardin; and he

1 Correspondance, dccci. The occasion of these festivities was the formal
inauguration of the College of Macon, for which the deputy had long con-
tended with the central administration.

1 Correspondance, dcccii.

.' Cf. Lamartine, p. 204. * Correspondance, Decern.

. . 122 • •

CHURCH AND STATE

added that "the real dogma of his soul was written in the
Revolution of fifty years ago." •

The elections of July, 1842, had again returned La-
martine as deputy from M&con; when he took his seat
in January, his attack on the whole system of govern-
ment, or "la pensee du regne," as he put it, made his
open defection apparent.2 Rising, on January 27 (1843),
to take part in the debate on the Address, his opening
words left no doubt as to what was to follow. "The
honourable orator who began this discussion believes
that the vice is not in the system, but in the Ministry
itself. I differ entirely with the honourable gentleman,
and I maintain that, in my eyes, the vice lies not in the
existing Ministry, nor in the one which preceded it, nor
perhaps in that destined to succeed it ; the vice is to be
found higher; the difficulty of the situation, the gravity
of the peril to France, are to be found elsewhere, they are
traceable to the entire system." 3 And he promptly
announces his intention of combating, not the various
paragraphs of the Address, but the whole complacent
policy of the Government. Thereupon follows a species of
profession of faith which presents absorbing interest.
Lamartine assures his hearers that the news of the Rev-
olution of July did not come as a surprise to him. And
he goes on to state that from his earliest youth he had
comprehended that the modern world could not long
hesitate between the government of autocratic principles
and one of liberty, between the principle which amal-
gamated the throne, the dynasty, and aristocracy with
the great national interests, and that which separated the
passing interests of the dynasty from those of the Na-
tion at large. By implication he accused the Govern-
ment of grossly violating the very principles on which it

1 Correspondence, dcccv. * Cf. Deschanel, op. cit., vol. n, p. 147.

8 La France parlementaire, vol. in, p. 288.

123

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

was founded; significantly adding, " II est plus beau de se
devouer aux idees qu'aux dynasties." Up to 1834, ne
admits, the Government had fulfilled his expectations.
After that date, selfishness, and a gradual severance
from the fundamental and organic principles which had
justified its birth, became ever more apparent. The
first symptoms he discerned in the attempt to constitute
an hereditary legislature in the Upper House; the second
in the nefarious "September Laws"; the third he had
fought against with all his might, for he considered the
fortifications of Paris a menace to constitutional liber-
ties. The refusal of the Government to accept the elec-
toral reforms which he had advocated so strongly in the
previous session was a grievance he could not overlook;
while after the attempt to cheat the country out of what
he considered a sacred right (the legislation concerning the
regency), no doubt remained in his mind as to the road
they meant to follow.

Turning to the foreign policy pursued since Casimir
Perier's death (1832), he pointed out the long series of
mistakes which had resulted in the practical diplomatic
isolation to which France was now condemned. On all
sides he detected weakness and even bad faith; a tend-
ency towards retrogression, and the sacrifice of the liber-
alism on which the fundamental principles of the new
monarchy rested. "Vous osez nier le feu, la main sur le
volcan! " he cries. " Vous osez nier la force invincible de
l'idee democratique, un pied sur ses debris!" Without
questioning the patriotism of the men in power, or of
the Conservative Party in Parliament, the speaker tells
them that they are endeavouring "to build with rotten
materials, with dead issues, and not with the live ideas
which hold the future in their grasp." The statesmen to
whom it is given to found durable institutions must not
only be endowed with prescience ; they must possess the

. . 124 • •

CHURCH AND STATE

gift of immolation of self in the fundamental ideas of
their time. Such men are to be found in France, and out
of these elements will be formed the loyal opposition he,
the speaker, is determined to construct ; the nucleus of
which, in fact, already exists in constitutional opposition
in the Chamber. Thoroughly aware of the misinterpre-
tations, the insinuations and calumnies, to which his
course will give rise, Lamartine professes himself pre-
pared to brave the storm, and let his life answer for the
sincerity of his purpose.

The peroration of his impassioned denunciation of
the system hitherto followed by a government owing its
origin to the principles it now sought to emasculate, left
no doubt in the minds of his hearers as to the course La-
martine would adopt. The effect produced by the frank
and powerful censure was very considerable. l The whole
country was aroused, and Lamartine's attitude was sub-
jected to varying criticism, although, on the whole, his
magnificent courage was accorded the admiration it de-
served. To whatever party they belonged, thinking men
in France recognized that a power to be reckoned with
was in their midst. It was on leaving the Chamber where
he had assisted at this debate that Baron von Humboldt
exclaimed: "M. de Lamartine est une comete dont on
n'a pas encore calcule l'orbite." Lamartine himself was
very confident of the role he was to play when the storm
broke. A couple of days afterwards he informed M. Ro-
not that three hundred and fourteen letters had reached
him from the departments, all expressing "fanatisme,
entrainement, et enthousiasme " ; and, he continues, in
five years France will have accepted his ideas. "Sou-
venez-vous-en, et moquez-vous de ceux qui se moquent
de moi. Je ne suis rien, mais les situations en politique
comme a la guerre sont toutes-puissantes. Or, j'ai l'ceil

1 Cf. Thureau-Dangin, op. cit., vol. v, p. 149.
• • 125 • •

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

qui sait les voir de loin et Ie pied qui ose hardiment s'y
poser." 1 To those who pointed out to him the number
of influential men his policy was alienating, Saint-Beuve
affirms that Lamartine replied: "What does that matter
to me? The women and young men are with me: I can
dispense with the rest." 2

But the position he had now made for himself, satis-
factory as it was, required in Lamartine' s opinion to be
strengthened through the action of the press. For years
past he had sighed for the possession of a newspaper by
means of which the propagation of his political and social
views could reach the ear of the great public outside the
Chamber. At first he had considered the advisability of
purchasing a paper in Paris, but on careful consideration
it seemed preferable to edit the journal from the morally
neutral ground of the provinces, far removed from
the passions and prejudices of the national capital. In
August, 1843, the project took definite shape, and Lamar-
tine, having called together at Saint-Point several of his
young neighbours, disclosed to them his ideas. Among
those who responded to the summons were Henri de La-
cretelle, Leon Bruys d'Ouilly, to whom was addressed
the Lettre Preface of the " Recueillements poetiques"
(1839), M. deChampvans, and Charles Rolland. To these
devoted fellow-workers, of whose sympathy with the
democratic principles which foreshadowed the Republic
there could be no doubt, their host unfolded the scope
of the independent paper to be called "Le Bien Public"
("The Public Weal"). He did not conceal from them
the fact that considerable pecuniary sacrifice would be
necessitated by the establishment of the philanthropic

1 Correspondence, dcccx.

1 Causeries du lundi, vol. XI, p. 462. Cited also by Thureau-Dangin,
op. cit., vol. v, p. 149, who sees in his attitude a desire to offer a distraction
and an emotion to those whom he had assured that "La France est une
nation qui s'ennuie."

• • 126 • •

CHURCH AND STATE

venture, and professed himself willing to contribute
generously to the enterprise.1 "What is the meaning of
all our revolutions during the last sixty years?" he asked
his friends when explaining the scheme. "It is the pursuit
of a single idea, and all these changes are only different
phases of one and the same revolution. France desires
a rational government, which shall call, without dis-
tinction of class, to the exercise of power those men best
fitted by intellect and character; she wants a govern-
ment which shall spread its beneficent effects over all;
she insists on applying to political life the doctrines of
social charity. Until the aim is attained revolutions will
follow their course, at times stormy, at others peaceful,
according to the obstacles or facilities found on their pas-
sage. Let it be our task to furnish a harbour where vital,
but not necessarily tumultuous, ideals may find shelter.
As with the fertilizing waters of the Nile, a deposit will
be formed, out of which will be created the rich harvests
of liberty." 2 Flowery as his language was, his hearers
shared his convictions and their youthful enthusiasm
equalled his own. Not only did they warmly embrace
his ideals, however, but each subscribed a thousand
francs to the fund, to which Lamartine himself contrib-
uted ten thousand.3 Fired by the knowledge that their
chief's literary productions commanded what for the time
were considered fabulous prices, his aides had little doubt
that the enterprise would prove a highly remunerative
one.

"Le Bien Public" created a considerable stir, and cer-
tain articles attributed to Lamartine were widely copied
throughout France, and even Europe. As was to be ex-

1 Lacretelle states that Le Bien Public cost Lamartine over fifteen
thousand francs a year. Cf. Lamartine et ses amis, p. 76.

2 Lacretelle, op. cit., p. 67; cf. also open letter to editor of Le Bien
Public, La France parlementaire, vol. ill, p. 397.

3 Lacretelle, op. cit., p. 68.

. . 127 • •

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

pected, not only the Government, but the whole regime
was attacked with the same energy as in the Chamber.
"What principles have you left standing?" the indig-
nant journalist demands in one of the early issues of his
paper. "In the place of a democracy, an oligarchy; in-
stead of equality, an elective nobility; in lieu of royalty
whose head is chief magistrate, a dynastic royalty; in-
stead of the freedom of the press, the ' Laws of Septem-
ber,' etc., etc." Nevertheless, as Lamartine clearly de-
fined this policy of opposition in his open letter to M. de
Champvans, editor of "Le Bien Public" (August 7,
1843), his intention was not perpetually to thwart the
Government, but gradually to direct the course of pub-
lic opinion towards an appreciation of popular liberties.
But it was in a speech on June 4, 1843, at the banquet
offered him by the city of Macon, that he most dis-
tinctly foreshadowed the transformation of the Royalist
into the popular tribune of five years later. The oration
is one long glorification of democracy. But although the
speaker vaunts the beauties of government of the people
by the people, he condemns with severity the excesses
which an untrained conception of liberty has produced
in the past, and may repeat in the future. So long as
a liberal constitutional monarchy fulfils the needs of the
Nation which gave it birth ; so long as a government is
only an instrument in the hands of the Nation for the
propaganda of the ideals and interests which must
triumph; so long must it be preserved. But should the
government fail in the mission confided to it by the Na-
tion : should it turn against the ideals the Nation has set
up, against the People, then — "But do not let us pro-
nounce the terrible word Revolution ! Nothing justifies it
but inexorable necessity." l The fundamental ideal of to-
day is the future of the people; in one word, the future

1 La France parlementaire, vol. m, p. 373.
• • 128 • •

CHURCH AND STATE

of democracy, he assures his hearers. Democracy unites
France; those in power wish to divide her. Therein lies
the danger to the existing Government: to embrace the
popular conception of the union of all classes of citizens
is, perhaps, the only salvation of the Government. "Le
temps des masses approche, et je m'en r£jouis; mais il
faut que leur avenement soit regulier pour etre durable."
And, lifting his glass, the orator proposes the following
toast: "A Taccomplissement r6gulier et pacifique des
destinees de la Democratic"1

In this speech may be discerned, five years in advance,
the germs and the moral causes of the Revolution of 1848
which swept away the Government he so mercilessly at-
tacked, and set up in its place the democracy whose tri-
umph Lamartine had prognosticated with marvellous
accuracy.2

Shelley has said that "Poets are the acknowledged
legislators of the world " : the axiom is susceptible of ques-
tion; but the ancients were right in considering them
as soothsayers. Lamartine's whole political career had
been one which could not fail to appeal to those who
had the popular cause deeply at heart. In 1843, M.
Chapuys-Montlaville, a patriot whose sympathy with the
people was unchallenged, extolled the civic virtues of
the member for Macon, and welcomed him within the
democratic fold, prophesying that he would become their
leader.3

Yet despite this apparent radicalism, it would be a
mistake to assume that, at this period, any considera-

1 La France parlementaire, vol. ill, p. 385.

* Deschanel, op. cit., vol. II, p. 150.

3 Cf. Lamartine, vie publique et privee, p. 127. Of this little work La-
martine wrote: "... J'aurai la biographie de Chapuys-Montlaville: je
vais me connaitre; c'est de la rhetorique bienveillante. Je lirai ma bio-
graphie aux champs." (Lettre a M. Chapuys-Montlaville.) Cf. Alex-
andre, Souvenirs sur Lamartine, p. 29; also La France parlementaire, vol.
Ill, p. 386.

• • 129 • •

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

ble following could have been found in the Chamber for
those advocating extreme measures. The contest of rival
statesmen and parliamentary parties was like that of the
Whigs and Tories in England. They sought, in different
degrees, the liberty of the press and of associations, the
extension of the franchise, and economy in the public
establishments: but all (or nearly all) were faithful to
the Monarchy and to the Constitution.1 Lamartine was
certainly not prepared to counsel demolition before he
had the material for reconstruction at hand. It was
evolution, not revolution, by means of which he sought
to attain his end. "Le Bien Public" had been founded to
aid this propaganda, and both Lamartine and Dargaud
made use of its vehicle to spread abroad the doctrines
they advocated. Lamartine's articles on "The State,
the Church, and Education" had inflamed public
opinion, and the ecclesiastical authorities, in order to
counterbalance modernist influences, felt constrained to
take action. The Bishop of Autun, near Macon, issued
a pastoral letter to his clergy containing certain disciplin-
ary measures in connection with dogma, and demanding
the unrestricted and unquestioning submission of the
local priests. Counselled by Lamartine and Dargaud, and
encouraged in his action by Champvans, the Abbe Thy-
ons refused to accede to the Bishop's exactions, and was
consequently suspended from his sacred functions. The
rights and wrongs of the controversy are too technical for
analysis here, the affair being mentioned merely on ac-
count of Lamartine's connection with it. Suffice it to
say that "Le Bien Public," and the Liberal press of the
entire country, seized upon the incident to support the
theory of liberty of conscience. There is no doubt that
the Abb6 Thyons' eloquent protest against the action
of his superior was inspired, even dictated, by Lamar-

1 Cf. Sir Thomas May, Democracy in Europe, vol. n, p. 258.
• • 130 • •

CHURCH AND STATE

tine. * "L'Abbe Thyons semblait avoir respir6 les souf-
fles et les pensees de Jocelyn," wrote Lacretelle, and it
is certain that in defending his humble friend Lamartine
did nothing more than put in practice the philosophy he
upheld in his famous poem. Be this as it may, the purity
of Lamartine's motives cannot be doubted. In phi-
losophy as in politics it was the higher object he sought,
the ultimate good of mankind, the emancipation of
religion from the trammels of dogma. All who ap-
proached the man agree concerning his personal vanity
— a vanity almost puerile in its naivete : none honestly
doubted the unselfishness of his aims. " Je travaille pour
Dieu," he wrote M. Dessertaux early in 1843, "and not
for a miserable worm such as I am. I seek to discover
the best road to bring men back to Him, and to prevent
their stumbling back to darkness. This is the whole
secret of my so-called evolutions, which, whatever the
public may think, are logical sequences with me." And
turning to mundane politics, he asserts his determina-
tion to lead the Government to the acceptance of the
great social reforms the century demands, "without rev-
olutionary excesses." Nevertheless, he admits that
revolutions seem to him inevitable in consequence of the
faults committed. If this must be, he does not wish to
have hastened the hour. "I know what an unleashed
populace means. I will oppose it to the utmost of my
power." 2

"Lamartine est en pleine audace," wrote Alexandre.
"He has declared himself the partisan of the separation
of Church and State." 3 Stupendous as the position
seemed, it was but the logical sequence of the politics he

1 Cf. Des Cognets, op. cit., p. 356. This author affirms that Lamartine
wrote the protest himself. Cf. also Lacretelle, op. cit., p. 73, who dates
the incident 1844, while Des Cognets (who is probably correct) insists
that it took place in 1846.

2 Cones pondance, dcccxiu. * Souvenirs sur Lamartine, p. 50.

. . ,31 . .

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

had made his own. When this epoch-making thesis be-
came known to the public, few were surprised. "L'Etat,
l'Eglise, et l'Enseignement" had been in preparation for
a long time. The temperance of its utterances may have
displeased Dargaud, but the substance made it clear
that its author was thoroughly in earnest. As has been
said, Lamartine was educated in part at the Jesuit col-
lege of Belley, in Savoy, and passed there some of the
happiest years of his youth. Nevertheless, grateful as
he was for the benefits he had received, he was not in
favour of confiding the education of modern youth to the
clergy. " . . . Je deteste la theocratie,"he wrote in 1847,
"parcequ'elle revendique la tyrannie au nom du Dieu de
lib.erte. . . ." x Deep-seated as were his religious convic-
tions, the statesman within him could not be blind to the
dangers which beset all liberty of conscience when the
Church interfered with temporal affairs. Hitherto La-
martine, although undeniably influenced by his philo-
sophical and political environment, had remained out-
wardly in accord with the family traditions and the friend-
ships of his youth. After 1840, his father being dead, and
the loss of his lifelong friend Virieu having overtaken
him, he began to break away from the past. The axis
becomes displaced ; the influences of his environment are
most apparent; his intimate friend is Dargaud, prac-
tically a free-thinker and an advanced liberal. He is sur-
rounded by independent thinkers such as Quinet, Miche-
let, Lamennais, Lacretelle, Pelletan, and others whose
religious and political creeds are widely at variance with
the type of conservatism family traditions have inculcated.
"Until 1 841, Lamartine's ideals rather than his sentiments
incline him to the Left; after 1841, it is his sentiments
more than his ideals which draw him to the Left." 2
As with politics, so with dogma. Giordano Bruno as-

* Les Confidences, book xi, p. 317. s Des Cognets, op. cil., p. 305.

• • 132 • •

CHURCH AND STATE

serted long ago: "La religion est l'ombre de la verite,
mais elle n'est pas contraire a la verite." 1 Metaphysi-
cally Lamartine was in harmony with the philosopher
of Nola : the Christianity of the Church contained noth-
ing contrary to truth, but the dogma with which Rome
had overlaid the essential verities obscured their compre-
hension, and retarded the spiritual evolution of human-
ity. According to Lamartine's philosophy two funda-
mental laws govern the universe: the law of repose and
that of action. He believed the times in which he lived
demanded a preponderance of the latter: the "law of
renovation," as he terms it in a letter to Virieu, written
in 1 835.2 It would be impossible to overestimate the
importance he attached to the question. His private
letters demonstrate the anguish of soul the problem
caused him, for he realized that the childish faith of his
fathers must suffer by the introduction of the rationalism
his theories demanded. Rationalism as he understood
it was, however, far removed from the scepticism of
to-day. To him the term implied adoration of the Deity
bereft of the symbolism of dogma, a distinction so subtle
as almost to defy analysis. The sincerity of his apparent
emancipation has been questioned; even emphatically
denied. M. Henri Cochin, an impeccable authority on
that portion of Lamartine's political career which had
the French Flanders as its centre, throws a doubt on the
disinterestedness of the poet's metaphysical evolution.
"He desired political success," asserts M. Cochin, "and
at that time as to-day, to secure a commanding position
religious ideals had to be sacrificed." 3

1 Born at Nola, circa 1550; burnt at the stake in Rome.

2 Correspondance, dcxvii.

» Cf. op. tit., p. 134; also Maurice Barres, " L'Abdication du Poete," a
series of articles in Echo de Paris, April n-30, 1913. This author hints at
the connection of Dargaud with Freemasonry, and at Lamartine's sym-
pathy with the society.

• . 133 . .

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

To those who have followed his psychological evolu-
tion it will be clear, however, that in spite of the lati-
tude of his opinions as to dogma, to Lamartine an irreli-
gious government was an inconceivable anomaly. But
he had early recognized the evils resulting from too close
association between the State and the Church. If reli-
gion was an indispensable factor in the composition of
his ideal body politic, an inseparable element of his social
philosophy, he unhesitatingly condemned the intrusion
of a dogmatic theocracy in temporal affairs as irreconcil-
able with the development of human thought. Theoreti-
cally democratic, the Church was in practice an aristo-
cratic hierarchy arrogating to itself alone the government
of the human conscience. Before the Revolution monar-
chical Europe was the handiwork of Catholicism: poli-
tics had been fashioned in the image of the Church; au-
thority was founded on a mystery; right came from on
high; power, like faith, was reputed divine.1 But the
principles of 1789 had freed the people from this univer-
sal subservience to the right divine, or rather had in-
vested man, individually and collectively, with the at-
tributes hitherto monopolized by the few. The monarchy
founded by the people in 1830 owed nothing to a mystic
origin such as its predecessors had claimed, but it owed
everything to the democratic principle which had given
it birth. That the Church of Rome should be allowed a
voice in the administration of the temporal affairs of a
government which professed to have broken with the
past, constituted not only a political anachronism, but
a menace to the liberty of the citizen. As was his wont,
Lamartine approached the issue in a spirit of modera-
tion and with every desire for the conciliation of the
interests involved. His pamphlets on the subject showed
no iconoclastic or radical determination to sweep away

1 Cf. Histoirc dcs Girondins, vol. I, p. 23.
. . 134 . .

CHURCH AND STATE

suddenly the century-old institutions which no longer
accorded with the ideals of modern progress. 1 Respect-
ful veneration for a power which had usefully served
humanity marked his every utterance. But, as he had
told Virieu, renovation could not be grafted on the past:
the new spirit must be met with fresh ideals, the new
philosophy be inaugurated on an honestly democratic
basis affording every class of society opportunities for
the fulfilment of individual destinies.

Before his entry into public life Lamartine had ad-
vocated the separation of Church and State. In the
"Politique rationnelle" (1831) he wrote that it was "a
fortunate and incontestable necessity in a time when
power belonged to all and not the few." No creed could
be granted exclusive privileges. In the same pamphlet
he had dwelt at considerable length on the advantages
of free and untrammelled education for all classes, as-
serting that any restrictions imposed on the liberty of
teaching constituted a moral attack on the privileges of
a free people.2 The conflict between the clergy and the
universities had now (1843) reached an acute stage.
The State accused the Church of warping the conscience
of youth, and unfitting those who had passed through the
mill of its educational system for the acceptance of the
duties of free citizens. To these reproaches the Church
retorted that the universities were accountable for the
spread of atheism. Strange as it must appear, M. Guizot,
himself a Protestant, professed to see no danger to the
State in the education imparted by the priests, and was
in favour of the passing of a bill calculated to increase
rather than diminish the influence of the Church over
higher education.

1 "L'Etat, l'Eglise, et l'Enseignement " (November 26 and 30, 1843);
cf. La France parlementaire, vol. in, pp. 465-91.

2 Sur la politique rationnelle, p. 69.

• ' 135 ' '

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

Lamartine threw himself heart and soul into the
camp which fought for the unconditional freedom of
education, and seized the opportunity to point out at the
same time the mutual advantage to both parties, by going
a step farther and dissolving the pact which bound their
material interests. The problem of free education was, he
maintained, inextricably interwoven with the religious
question. The Concordat of Napoleon I bound together
France and Rome. The evils resultant from this fact
fell alike on Church and State. Neither enjoyed the
liberty to which it was entitled, and each was continu-
ally trespassing on the prerogatives of the other. The
Church complained that the university, representing
the State, robbed her of the fruits of the educational
system she pursued, and corrupted with lay doctrines the
spiritual teachings she had inculcated; that by insisting
upon the right of State examinations before admitting
candidates to the public service, the authority of the ec-
clesiastical instructors was impaired. To which the State
replied, that, as the Church was free to preach her dogma,
the State was also free to insist upon the acceptance
of the moral principles upon which its existence was
founded. Lamartine pointed out with force the incom-
patibility of the system with the requirements of human
progress, and urged the gradual and equitable disasso-
ciation of two principles whose mutual value to mankind
necessitated the separation of their reciprocal material
interests. More generous than the late M. Combes, he
advocated the maintenance of the status quo until the
gradual extinction by death of the present ecclesiastical
incumbents, who to the end should receive from the State
the salaries and emoluments to which they were en-
titled. Thus, the disestablishment accomplished with-
out detriment to the individual members of a consider-
able class of society, the Church might teach her faith,

. . 136 • •

CHURCH AND STATE

and the State inculcate unhindered the principles of civic
virtue it deemed indispensable for the public weal. "The
Church will be emancipated from the Government, the
Government emancipated from the Church, and phi-
losophy emancipated from both. Souls will be relieved
from their dependence on the budget and confided to their
faith and to God." "

Unquestionably Lamartine firmly believed that the
adoption of his solution of the problem would benefit
both Church and State — that if the State was a decided
gainer by the transaction, the Church would be no loser,
might even find it to her material advantage to be free
from the trammels of State supervision and control. But
those who had inspired Lamartine, and who had egged
him on to the public expression of his secret convictions,
knew better. Dargaud, whose personal animosity to
theocracy was deep-seated and often violent, saw the far-
reaching consequences of this estrangement between the
civil and spiritual powers which struggled for the posses-
sion of the human conscience. "On a tente une chose
qui pourrait avoir de l'avenir," he wrote in his diary.
"On a demande la separation de l'Eglise et de l'Etat . . .
quelques-uns settlement savent ce qu'il font. Moi, je vois
clairement. Le clerge le voit aussi, et il recule devant
son divorce avec l'Etat et la suppression de la subvention
religieuse." 2 The author of "The History of Religious
Liberty," philosopher and Deist that he was, foresaw
what was to take place in our times: at first an increase
of revenues to the religious associations, prompted by
the sympathies of those who considered that the Church
had been despoiled of its sacred rights. This sentiment,
however, must soon be followed by the progressive
apathy of the faithful. M. des Cognets believes that

1 La France parlementaire, vol. in, p. 487.
1 Cf. Des Cognets, op. cit., p. 293.

137

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

Lamartine himself began to realize that he was being
made a tool of, and made to embrace an extreme policy
of which he could not approve. "On utilisera l'ascendant
qu'il a conquis par ses po£sies religieuses sur les ames des
catholiques pour deconcerter les resistances. Pendant ce
temps, derriere lui, a l'ombre de sa gloire, on preparera
l'arme avec laquelle on espere porter a l'Eglise le coup
mortel." l

Was Lamartine the dupe of this Machiavelian plot?
That he was influenced by Dargaud's persuasive philos-
ophy none can for a moment doubt. That he was swayed
in matters of minor importance by the liberalism (to use
a euphemistic term) of Dargaud's argumentation is fre-
quently apparent. But the present issue was one he had
deeply pondered before he made the personal acquaint-
ance of this alter ego, who during the eighteen years of his
political activity was his constant companion and trusted
confidant. As has been seen, the " Politique rationnelle "
specifically recognizes the advantages — nay, the ne-
cessity — of the separation of the spiritual and temporal
powers in a free State, and his private letters refer again
and again to the liberty of conscience a true apprecia-
tion of the " Religion of Reason " must entail. If he hesi-
tated to take the plunge himself, if he procrastinated
definite and conclusive action (and all this he most as-
suredly did), it was not because his personal convictions
wavered, but because of the (for the times) frankly
revolutionary character of the measure. His revolt was
not against religion, for, although his orthodoxy was,
as has been seen, extremely doubtful, his quarrel was with
the self-constituted hierarchy which in the name of
Catholic dogma sought to impose limitations to human
thought. The revolt of Lamennais against the tyranny of
Rome appealed irresistibly to the author of "Jocelyn"

1 Des Cognets, op. cit., p. 295.
• • 138 • •

CHURCH AND STATE

and "La Chute d'un Ange," whose ideals of Christian
socialism had, perhaps, found their birth in the "Essai
sur 1' Indifference en matiere de religion." 1

The absolute liberty of education had been one of
the formal promises contained in the Charter of 1830,
and by liberty of education was understood the free
and open competition of all authorized schools to what-
ever denomination they belonged, exclusive of monop-
oly or privilege, avowed or disguised.2 But to the
State belonged the right of judging of the guarantees of
capacity or morality offered by the educational estab-
lishments and the masters employed. The Society of
Jesus, recognized as a danger to the State, was legally
unauthorized, as a decree of dissolution of the Order in
France was pending.3 M. Guizot, unwilling to aggravate
the contest between the Church and State by the direct
application of the law against the Jesuits, had recourse
to diplomacy to induce the Holy See to counsel the
voluntary retirement of the followers of Loyola. For
this purpose an Italian political refugee, Count Pelle-
grino Rossi, who had distinguished himself as a profes-
sor of Constitutional Law, and had been made a French
peer, was selected by M. Guizot as diplomatic represent-
ative to the Vatican (1845). Count Rossi was success-
ful in his mission, obtaining from Pope Gregory XVI,
just prior to his death, the desired dissolution of the Jesuit
educational establishments in France.4

Although one cause of the trouble between Church and

1 Cf. C. Marshal, Lamennais et Lamartine, pp. 303, 319.

* Cf. Guizot, Memoires, vol. vn, p. 376 et seq.

* The original decree of expulsion, dated June 22, 1804, under the Empire,
had been maintained by the Governments of the Restoration and of 1830.

* Guizot, op. cit., p. 431; cf. also Thureau-Dangin, op. cit., vol. v, p. 567,
who insists that the victory was only a partial one. Count Rossi, after the
Revolution of 1848, reassumed his Italian nationality and was appointed
Minister of the Interior under Pius IX. He was assassinated in Rome in
1848.

• • 139 • •

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

State was removed, the battle still raged furiously, as
both the ecclesiastic and the civil authorities maintained
their pretensions. On one side the universities, on the
other the seminaries, professors, and priests, hurled ac-
cusations of materialism or bigotry with equal violence.
Undoubtedly abuses existed. Sainte-Beuve, who was no
fanatic, wrote, in 1843, that the majority of the Univer-
sity professors, without being hostile to religion, were
not religious. The pupils were affected by the prevailing
atmosphere and left the estates of learning, if not anti-
Christians, at least tainted with indifference towards
religion.1 On the other hand, as Lamartine had justly
observed, the Church already occupied a unique posi-
tion. " Elle est la seule grande association autorisee, pro-
tegee et salariee dans le pays: une nation dans une nation,
un Etat dans l'fitat; une societe a part de la societe ci-
vile.."2 This dual control of the public conscience was
intolerable alike to Church and to State, perpetually at
war in defence of their individual prerogatives. With
Cavour, Lamartine sighed for a "free Church in a free
State ' ' : the two great social institutions liberated from
the iron fetters which bound their manifest incompati-
bilities. " II n'y a pas de paix, sachez-le bien," he warned
the Chamber on May 3, 1845, "que dans la liberte des
cultes; il n'y a de paix que dans la separation graduelle,
successive, dans le relachement systematique et gen£ral
des liens qui unissent l'figlise a l'Etat. . . ." 3 With the
separation of Church and State the vexed problem of
the freedom of education found its natural evolution, for
the friction between the elements disputing the moral
possession of the citizen ceased to exist. The State was
no longer authorized to exercise control over the religious

1 Chroniques Parisiennes, pp. ioo, 122.

1 La France parlementaire, vol. ill, p. 469.

* "Sur la Liberte des Cultes," La France parlementaire, vol. iv, p. 169.

140

CHURCH AND STATE

conscience of the individual, nor could the Church in-
sist on its exclusive right to mould the future citizen
during the earlier years of his mental development. To
the family was accorded the option of the mode of youth-
ful training to be followed, while the State reserved its
ultimate appreciation of the capability offered by the
candidate for public employment.

Lamartine foresaw that the solution which he proposed
of the vexed university question would meet with the
dogged opposition of two classes at least of electors : those
who sought to abase religion by making of it a political
instrument ; and those who would fain see the State under
the thumb of the clergy. But he was himself convinced
that a frank and loyal separation of the two great levers
of human energy was the only means of obtaining mutual
individual freedom, together with the moral and intel-
lectual progress demanded by the social conditions of
the age. As was to be expected, the very equity of his pro-
posals raised a storm of protest. From Court circles to the
fringes of the conservative bourgeoisie, by Legitimists
and Liberals alike, vituperation was poured upon him.
Denounced as a Jesuit in disguise and an enemy of all
religion, an atheist, and an infidel, his pamphlet entitled
"L'Etat, l'Eglise et l'Enseignement," nevertheless car-
ried weight with thinkers in both camps. But Lamartine
was in advance of his time, and it was decreed that over
half a century must elapse before France shook off the
fetters which bound State and Church, and proclaimed
the divorce which was to liberate her from the entangling
Concordat of Napoleon I.

CHAPTER XXXVIII
THE HISTORY OF THE GIRONDINS

Although Lamartine had spent a goodly portion of
1843 away from Paris and personal contact with the
political passions which swayed the metropolis, "Le Bien
Public " had kept him in touch with the controversies of
the hour. To these political activities had recently been
added occupations of a purely literary character, destined,
however, to exercise an incalculable, although indirect,
political influence. The composition of the "Histoire des
Girondins" was begun during the late spring of 1843,
and undertaken, there is little doubt, with the hope of
relieving the financial stringency and permitting the
continuance of his accustomed mode of living. The de-
parture was a new one: " Je n'ai rien grave de ce style,"
the author informed Dargaud.1 The first volume of the
"Histoire des Girondins" was finished towards the mid-
dle of October ; but the author soon realized that the mag-
nitude of the task he had embarked upon would require
at least five volumes.2 The composition, together with
the necessary studies and researches for this monu-
mental work, occupied the greater part of the succeeding
three years, but not to the exclusion of his public du-
ties, although for the nonce he took a less prominent
part in debate. Financial difficulties kept him at Macon
until early in 1844. "I am not ruined," he wrote the
Marquis de la Grange, "but harassed by expenses and
debts." 3 If the settlements he had in progress could be

1 Correspondance, dcccxvii.

1 As a matter of fact eight, to which was added, twenty years later, a
volume of criticism.

» Correspondance, dcccxxiv.

• • 142 • •

THE HISTORY OF THE GIRONDINS

brought to a successful termination, however, he hoped
to be financially independent within the next four years.
"During these four years I have need of all my intelli-
gence and all my energy not to be shipwrecked within
sight of port," he adds, meaning by this that to his pen
must he trust to extricate him from the distressing situa-
tion in which he found himself. It was, therefore, for these
considerations, as much as "to increase his intellectual
capital as a politician and as an orator," x that he plunged
into an enterprise which from the outset promised large
pecuniary returns.

Despite literary labours into which he threw himself
with ever-increasing zeal, and the financial embarrass-
ments which beset him, Lamartine again took up his
parliamentary duties, in January, 1844, with unimpaired
vigour. It is probable that the sojourn in Paris was made
possible by a loan from the Marquis de la Grange, for in
a letter, written the first days of January, Lamartine
regrets his inability to return to his post, stating that
he could only leave Macon had he five or six thousand
francs in his purse, but that he does not see whence they
are to come. A few days later (January 10) he writes the
same friend thanking him for a great service rendered
and adding, "I accept with a feeling of gratitude only
equalled by my attachment"; and goes on to say that
within a fortnight he will be in Paris.2 Be this as it may,
he was in his seat in the Chamber for the debate on the
Address, and on January 28 delivered a speech advocating
the rescindment of a phrase casting blame upon certain
Legitimist deputies who had gone to London to offer
their respects to the Due de Bordeaux, head of the de-
throned Bourbons of the elder branch.3 Although couched
in moderate and uncompromising language, the senti-

1 Cf. Lady Domville, Lamartine, p. 253. 2 Correspondance, dcccxxiv.
3 Known later as the Comte de Chambord, styled Henri V.

• • 143 • •

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

ments expressed in this defence of the liberty of political
sympathies leave little doubt as to the evolution of the
speaker's personal opinions, and of the road he will follow.

The shifting of party interests, and the rapproche-
ment between Thiers and Odilon Barrot, seemed to La-
martine to offer a larger place for an independent organ
such as "Le Bien Public," and it would appear that he
seriously contemplated transplanting the newspaper to
Paris.1 A closer study of the question, however, demon-
strated the disadvantages of such action, which must
have necessitated a very considerable financial outlay,
and with his customary optimism Lamartine turned to
the far greater perspectives offered by the purchase of a
well-established Parisian journal. Fortunately the- seven
hundred thousand francs necessary for this enterprise
were not forthcoming, for it is certain that dismal failure
awaited shareholders who entrusted their capital to the
commercial acumen of a political and social reformer such
as the deputy from Macon.

But Lamartine was doing splendid work for his con-
stituents, nevertheless. The projected line of railway
from Paris to Lyons, and eventually to Marseilles, was
under consideration. Various routes were proposed, and
as is inevitable in such enterprises, conflicting local in-
terests complicated and delayed the execution of the
scheme. Lamartine had the promise that this important
line should pass through his native town, and geographi-
cal as well as economic considerations lent weight to the
demands of his fellow-citizens. Nevertheless, the matter
still hung in the balance, and it required great skill and
patience to overcome the hesitation and frank opposi-
tion of parties, or of colleagues whose discomfiture meant
political antagonism. Hopeful in the earlier stages of the
negotiations, Lamartine never concealed the difficulties of

1 Correspondence, dcccxxvi.
• • 144 • •

THE HISTORY OF THE GIRONDINS

the situation, and his correspondence with M. de Champ-
vans and others clearly demonstrates the efforts he made
at this period. From the incipient stage of railway con-
struction in France, Lamartine had been an enthusiastic
supporter of the new mode of locomotion, and used every
means at his disposal to dispel the prejudices of those
who decried the innovation. Unlike M. Thiers, who
prophesied that the trains would frighten the cows and
deprive France of milk, he foresaw the immense econo-
mic advantages of transportation by rail ; and he went so
far as to proclaim the abolition of war and the universal
brotherhood of man, by means of this facile intercom-
munication between peoples hitherto kept apart owing
to the difficulties and dangers of travel. The prolonga-
tion of the line from Chalons to Macon occupied the
greater part of his time during the session of 1844, ms
efforts being eventually crowned with success.

He found leisure, however, for an eloquent appeal on
the question of prisons, pleading with force and convic-
tion against the system of solitary confinement in cases
of long detention, and urging the more humane prin-
ciple of deportation.1 "Here is a speech, and a famous
one! as they say at Milly, on prisons. . . . Never was a
greater or for me more unexpected triumph in the Cham-
ber. . . . The law was lost, and I resuscitated it for a few
days by inserting deportation, without which it was
valueless. . . . The House was more impressed than I
have ever seen it, both friends and foes. I have been
sleepless, and am fagged out." 2 In truth, rarely has a
more pathetic appeal been made for more lenient legis-
lation towards criminals, or a more thoroughly sensible
one from the social and economic point of view. The sug-
gestions would stand to-day as models for the reform

1 La France parlementaire, vol. IV, p. 45; speech of May 7, 1844.

2 Correspondance, dcccxxxi.

• • 145 • •

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

of the systems prevalent in many so-called civilized lands.
The moral aspect of the question is faced without flinch-
ing, and there is a total absence of the mere sentimental-
ity so often discernible in like pleas. Exhorting his hearers
to clemency, he reminds them that the century in which
they live is destined to great moral and material achieve-
ment. "Imprint these weighty matters with a religious
and human character, and let your passage on these
benches be marked by the immense benefit which must
accrue by the substitution of the penitentiary and re-
generating system for that of a corruptive imprison-
ment, dangerous for society and degrading to human-
ity." "

There is noticeable in Lamartine's writings and utter-
ances of this period a certain lassitude, which amounts
at moments almost to discouragement. One is conscious
that the man feels the weight of the burden pressing
upon his shoulders. An optimist always, there is never-
theless discernible between the lines of his correspond-
ence a certain secret anxiety concerning not only his
private affairs, but the drift of the public policy which,
in a sense, he had made his own. An accredited mem-
ber of the opposition, he is frankly dissatisfied with
the influence the party exerts, one might almost say their
lack of influence in the Chamber. He would appear,
moreover, temporarily at least, to experience a certain
hesitancy concerning the quality of the literary work on
which he is engaged ("Les Girondins"). Considering the
magnitude of the issue at stake — reestablishment of his
domestic budget — moments of despondency and lack
of self-confidence are admissible even in a nature such
as his. Nevertheless, such faltering is rare in his maturer
years, although frequent in his youth, and one realizes
that physical suffering is not totally unaccountable for

1 La France parlementaire, vol. rv, p. 64.
. . 146 • •

THE HISTORY OF THE GIRONDINS

the psychological phenomenon. "J'ecris chaque matin
des pages nouvelles de mon histoire," he writes Dar-
gaud. " Je ferai ainsi toute l'annee, nulla dies sine linea.
Mais vraiement se sont des lignes." x Progress was
slow on the book ; he was out of conceit with the political
r61e he was allowed to play; his world was out of gear.
"Le monde ne veut pas de moi," he sadly adds, experi-
encing for once the weariness of soul every social re-
former must suffer when confronted with the indifference
or bitter antagonism of those to whom he had looked
for aid and sympathy. Was it for this reason that a trip
to Marseilles was suddenly arranged at the end of July,
1844? Were it not for the fact that the prolongation of
the expedition to Naples and Ischia was an afterthought,
owing to lack of suitable accommodations at Marseilles,
one might discern the longing to break with the present,
and refresh his soul in the haunts of his careless youth.
At any rate, accompanied by his wife, his sister, Ma-
dame de Cessiat, and his nieces, Lamartine took steamer
at Marseilles and tarried a month in the delicious island
where he had spent so many happy days thirty years
before.

The change would seem to have done him good, for
he returned to France refreshed in mind and body, and
settled down at Monceau, whence, within a couple of
months, issued an acrimonious political resume of his
recent speeches and writings entitled " Recapitulation." 2
This document, although not one of the happiest which
has fallen from Lamartine's pen, furnishes, nevertheless,
an important clue to his personal opinions at a period
when faith in the destinies of his country was at a low
ebb. "France is revolutionary or nothing," he wrote.
"The revolution of '89 is her political religion. Should

1 Correspondence, dcccxlhi.

* Published in Le Bien Public, of November 22, 1844.

• • 147 • •

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

she relinquish the dogmas, pervert the principles, or in-
definitely postpone the practical issues at stake, she
stultifies herself; she remains little more than the slave
of 1 815, the great repentant nation craving pardon for
the prejudices she destroyed, seeking forgiveness of the
thrones she humbled, of Europe for her victories." And
he discerns in this role it is desired to have France play,
the hand of the retrograde policies sanctioned by the Leg-
islative Chamber during the last few years.1 But the
accusations lose force by reason of their too general
character. One scents, for the first time, an accent of
personal aggressiveness, a petulancy amounting almost
to peevishness, characteristics far removed from the dig-
nified rebuke we have been accustomed to encounter in
Lamartine's most energetic remonstrances against abuses
of the prerogatives of Crown and Administration. It is
an attack on what the author calls the "system"; in
other words, the whole Government of Louis-Philippe,
past, present, and future. It does not come within the
province of this study to analyze the abuses of which
Lamartine complains. Attention is drawn to this docu-
ment merely as exemplifying the nature of the motives
of his discontent, and the issues which guided him into
the ever-broadening road of open and active opposition.
Much was rotten in the State; the "intrigue of Thiers and
the weakness of M. Barrot" 2 justified in a sense the
pessimism apparent in Lamartine's political prognosti-
cation in this document. But the note of personal dis-
content is evident, and, as has been said, it attenuates
the force of the authentic and legitimate complaints it
contains.

Here and there, in his confidential correspondence at
this period, there crops up a passing reference to some

1 Cf. La France parlementaire, vol. IV, p. 88.
1 Correspondance, dcccxli.

148

THE HISTORY OF THE GIRONDINS

political combination with Thiers, by virtue of which
he might accept a seat in the Cabinet. There is no doubt
that the persistent refusal of Louis-Philippe to utilize
his talents greatly chagrined him. Laughingly he was
wont to assert that there was only one ministerial port-
folio he had any ambition to possess — that of Public
Opinion! Sainte-Beuve believes that he would never
have been satisfied with the routine of a Government
office: what he longed for was a "storm in order that the
lightning of his heroism might dazzle the world." l Un-
bounded confidence in his genius for great political deeds
he certainly possessed, and he was to give proof of his
power over a turbulent mob on occasions many times
renewed. Meanwhile he chafed over the political in-
action to which he was condemned. "The country is
dead," he wrote De Circourt in July, 1845; "Hen ne peut
le galvaniser qu'une crise. Comme honnete homme je
la redoute, comme philosophe je la desire." 2 But for the
present he did nothing to provoke the crisis he felt it was
imperative the country should traverse. His speeches
and writings during the years 1845 and 1846, although
dealing with an infinity of topics, are more objective than
subjective in their essence, and the distinctly combative
note is more frequently absent than in the past. Whether
he is dealing with the conversion of the funds and kindred
economic questions, or taking part in discussions rela-
tive to the foreign policy of the Government, the aca-
demic is discernible to the exclusion of the personal note
of impassioned conviction.

A conspicuous exception to this subserviency of the ego
is the article in "Le Bien Public," September 14, 1845,
entitled "Pourquoi M. de Lamartine est seul." 3 It is a
scathing repudiation of the policies advocated and fol-

1 Portraits contemporains, vol. i, p. 377. 2 Correspondence, dccclvii.

8 Cf. La France parlementaire, vol. rv, p. 229.

• • 149 • .

LIFE OF IAMARTINE

lowed by the successive statesmen and parties which had
been in power since 1838. Thiers, Guizot, Barrot, and
the so-called "Opposition" come in equally for censure
or withering contempt. Writing in the third person,
Lamartine defends the political isolation in the Chamber
of the deputy Lamartine, and explains the inconsistency,
the incongruity, of his action had he allied himself com-
pletely and irrevocably with one or the other of the par-
ties in power, either as minister or as an ambassador
abroad pledged to the execution of the disastrous foreign
policies emanating from the Tuileries. The article is a
recapitulation of the errors committed against the true
interests of France both at home and abroad ; of the con-
tradiction of the fundamental principles underlying the
democratic doctrines professed ; of the weakness displayed
by the Opposition, which "yielded up the battlefield after
a victorious struggle, and merged its banner with that
of its enemies." Far better be a Minister of Public
Opinion than a member of the Cabinet of the Crown.
Far better the isolation to which he was condemned than
the hampering subserviency to policies which must bring
discredit on liberal institutions, perhaps endanger the
whole social fabric.

Not that Lamartine belonged to that order of con-
templative politicians, Platonists, who, while they pro-
fess liberty, decline to risk active participation in the
business of government for fear of loss of popularity,
or of compromising themselves by a display of their
impotence. Defending himself — or rather the Lamar-
tine for whom the anonymous writer has taken up
the cudgels — Lamartine asserts that the deputy from
Macon, far from fearing the risks and responsibilities of
power, would be found in the foremost ranks of those
battling for the preservation of liberty. "Le pouvoir,
au bout de compte, est le but des idees," he frankly ad-

. . 150 • •

THE HISTORY OF THE GIRONDINS

mits. " Gouverner, c'est realiser. " But to none is it given
to hasten events nor to force their maturity. When the
hour for action arrives, Lamartine will be found at his
post, cheerfully prepared to assume whatever role may be
in store for him, regardless of peril, oblivious to all else
save his duty as a citizen.1

Assuredly none could accuse Lamartine of neglecting
the duties imposed by citizenship. The session of 1846 was
an unusually busy one. No subject appeared too techni-
cal for his comprehension: the variety of topics he dis-
cussed with analytical skill and discernment is literally
dumbfounding. The flexibility and development of his
exceptional talents are nowhere more apparent than
during this period (1843-47) of intense political and
literary labor.2 Beginning on January 12 (1846) with a
masterly speech on the proposed laws governing the
administration of savings banks for workingmen; pass-
ing a few days later to a discussion on the Address con-
cerning the Maronites and the policy of the French in
Syria, Lamartine took up during this session a bewilder-
ing variety of industrial, economic, and military and co-
lonial questions, all of which he treated with a skill de-
noting profound study and a wonderfully comprehensive
grasp of detail, combined with an open-mindedness rare
in the annals of parliamentary history. Of course we
know that men like De Circourt and Dargaud were at his
elbow. Circourt was a student of encyclopaedic attain-
ments, and Lamartine made no secret of the immense
debt he owed him for the compilation of the statistical
and technical scientific knowledge required in the prep-
aration of certain special subjects. To Dargaud also he
turned continually for information of a political nature,
for this intimate friend and counsellor made it his prov-

1 La France parlementaire, vol. iv, p. 236.

* Cf. £mile Deschanel, Lamartine, vol. 11, p. 154.

• • 151 • •

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

ince to keep in touch with statesmen and politicians,
journalists and pamphleteers, with whom Lamartine
himself for one reason or another had little personal inter-
course. l

But notwithstanding the inestimable value of the aid
that he derived from these trusty henchmen, it would
be unfair to deny the unparalleled skill demonstrated in
hot debate when utilizing the shreds of technical knowl-
edge acquired in weaving the finished fabrics of his elo-
quent addresses. Take for instance the task he had
set himself to obtain a reduction of the tax on salt.2
Though we have no absolute proof that De Circourt fur-
nished the data, it is probable that Lamartine discussed
the subject with him, and this in spite of his assertion,
"J'ai beaucoup etudie l'6conomie politique dans ma vie,
bien qu'on ne m'en soupcpnne pas."3 Judging by the speci-
mens M. Doumic has given of the notes Lamartine held
in his hand when he mounted the rostrum,4 the data he
consulted on this occasion were probably of the flimsiest;
yet by sheer force of eloquence he painted a picture, pro-
fusely interlarded with the technical and statistical ma-
terial he professed to despise, which carried conviction,
not only by reason of its moral considerations, but by
virtue also of the sound equity of the principles of politi-
cal economy enunciated. The speech is a tour de force,
and as such hardly a fair criterion; yet it is but one
example of a long series of like productions which leave
us dismayed at the versatility of the man whose genius

1 Cf. Lacretelle, op. cit., p. 81.

2 La France parlementaire, vol. iv, p. 378.

8 La France parlementaire, vol. iv, p. 380, "Sur la Reduction de l'lmpdt
du Sel." Sainte-Beuve cites a conversation in which Lamartine asks:
"Have you ever read political economy?" And without awaiting the
answer, goes on: "Did you ever put your nose in that rubbish? Nothing
is easier, nothing more amusing." Cf. Portraits contemporains, vol. 1, p. 381.

* Cf. "Lamartine orateur," Revue des Deux Mondes, September 15, 1908,
P- 342.

. . 152 • •

THE HISTORY OF THE GIRONDINS

embraced with equal facility problems as widely sepa-
rated as the poles.1

On December 24, 1846, Lamartine wrote to M. Dubois,
at Cluny: "Le jour ou le roi a sign6 le mariage espagnol
il a sign6, pour moi, l'abdication 6ventuelle et presque
certaine de sa dynastic' ' 2

The Spanish marriages are one of the "crimes" most
frequently attributed to Louis- Philippe.3 The young
Queen Isabella and her sister, the Infanta Louisa Fer-
nanda, daughters of Queen Christina, were undoubt-
edly the victims of political ambitions, not only in
France, but in England and Italy. The marriages of
these two princesses constituted, at the time, a problem
of international importance which threatened the friendly
relations of more than one European court. But espe-
cially between France and England had the rivalry as-
sumed an aggressive and acrimonious form. Lord Palmer-
ston, who had recently (July, 1846) reassumed control
at the Foreign Office, was bitterly opposed to the candi-
dates favoured by the French Court — the Duke of
Cadiz and Louis-Philippe's youngest son, the Due de
Montpensier, whom it was desired to see wedded to
the Infanta.

It would appear, however, that in the beginning Louis-
Philippe, realizing that the affair must cost him the friend-
ship of England, whose candidate, the Due de Cobourg,
he desired to defeat, was unwilling to push the French
claims.4 His hesitation was promptly overridden by

1 Cf. Deschanel, op. cit., vol. II, p. 154. Legouve relates an anecdote of
how Lamartine, while in his bath, prepared a speech on the navigation of the
Seine, a purely technical subject of which he had no previous knowledge.
. 2 Correspondance, dccclxxx.

z Cf. W. Miiller, Political History of Modern Times, vol. ix; also Thureau-
Dangin, op. cit., vol. vi, p. 203, and Guizot, Memoires, vol. vm, pp. 100-
338.

4 Thureau-Dangin, op. cit., vol. vi, pp. 209, 283, together with various
English and French authorities cited by him.

. . ,53 . .

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

Comte Bresson,1 Ambassador at Madrid, to whom M.
Guizot had given positive instructions to urge the
choice of the Duke of Cadiz as the little Queen's con-
sort, and Montpensier as the husband of her sister. The
plot was an essentially Machiavelian one, for the Duke of
Cadiz was mentally and physically unfit for the role he
was cast to enact, and this being recognized, the object
of a French Prince so near the throne was apparent.
Lord Palmerston combated the scheme with energy, but
public opinion, which had at first supported him, lost
interest, while even his colleagues in office became ner-
vous over the possible results of a diplomatic quarrel
which threatened to embroil the two countries. In spite
of opposition at home and abroad, M. Guizot carried
his point, and on October 10, 1846, the double ceremony
took place, in Madrid.

But, as Lamartine had foreseen, the consequences of
this too patent dynastic ambition were to be far-reach-
ing. "Everything promised peace and security to the
throne, when Louis-Philippe's unworthy intrigues to
bring about the Spanish marriages suddenly disturbed
his cordial relations with England, and shook his credit
for good faith in France and throughout Europe. In
addition to charges of domestic misgovernment, his ene-
mies were now able to accuse him of sacrificing the
honour of France to his own family ambition. The es-
trangement of England from France was followed by a
marked opposition in their foreign policy. In Italy and
Sicily, in Spain, Portugal, and Switzerland, England was
found in sympathy with the Liberal Party, and favour-
ing constitutional freedom : while France, dreading revo-
lution everywhere, was concerting measures with the ab-
solute Powers of Europe to discourage and repress all
popular movements in those States. In foreign and do-

1 Afterwards committed suicide when Ambassador in Naples, 1847.
• • 154 • •

THE HISTORY OF THE GIRONDINS

mestic policy, the Citizen-King was now reverting to the
traditions of the Bourbons." *

Although Lamartine did not take a personal part in
the debate on the Spanish marriages, he felt very keenly
the iniquity of the sacrifice made of the young Queen.
Perhaps, however, he appreciated the fact that when the
marriage of the French Prince was concerned, he could
not with consistency object to the enactment of the vigor-
ous foreign policy pursued, since he had again and again
reproached Louis-Philippe's Government with hesita-
tion and timidity when dealing with questions involving
the dignity of France. Lord Palmerston had perhaps
acted in too high-handed a fashion in his attempts to
browbeat the French Court and Ministry, and agree
with him in petto although he might, Lamartine was too
good a patriot not to resent his action. Moreover, it is
probable that at this stage of the growing popular dis-
content manifested toward the July Monarchy, he felt
that it was sufficient to allow Louis-Philippe enough
rope in order that he hang himself. The attempt on
the King's life by Lecomte (April 16, 1846) had deterred
Lamartine from making, as he had proposed doing,
a general arraignment of his selfishly personal policy.
"On dirait que je l'assassine deux fois," he explained to
M. Ronot.2 But these considerations did not weigh in
the "article terrible contre le mariage espagnol" which
he published in "Le Bien Public" under the title "Vou-
lons-nous etre Nation ou Dynastie?" 3

Taking the ground that the Due de Montpensier's
marriage was an undisguised attempt to capture the
Spanish throne for a prince of the reigning House of
France, a mere dynastic intrigue, Lamartine gave full

1 Sir Thomas May, Democracy in Europe, vol. II, p. 265; cf. also Me-
moirs of Baron Stockmar, vol. 11, pp. 130-207, and Sir Theodore Martin,
Life of the Prince Consort, vol. 1, pp. 341-82.

2 Correspondance, dccclix. s October 4, 1846.

• • 155 • • •

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

vent to his wrath. Reviewing the situation at home and
abroad the writer of this scathing article exclaims: " L'es-
prit de dynastie nous entraine! la nation abdique, s'en-
gage et se perd, avec sa liberte et sa politique, dans
un interet mal entendu et dans une politique etroite
et fausse de famille!" Exaggerated as his conclusions
undoubtedly were, many shared his opinion, consider-
ing that the higher interests of the State had been sacri-
ficed to purely dynastic ambitions, calculated, under
given circumstances, to draw France into international
complications such as the genius of a Louis XIV, a
Richelieu, or a Napoleon had found too onerous. On
August i (1846) Macon had reelected its deputy prac-
tically unanimously (three hundred and twenty-one out
of three hundred and thirty voters). Conservatives and
Republicans joined forces on this occasion to return the
popular candidate to Parliament; a glowing tribute to
the man and the policies he represented. He had been
asked for no programme, and he offered none: or rather,
as he told his audience on the day following his brilliant
election, his programme could be summed up in three
words : " Peace, the People, and Liberty." If they exacted
an oath, he would give it them in the following terms:
' ' I swear not to betray the confidence of any good citi-
zen who has given me his suffrage. I swear that on all
occasions, under all regimes, before all powers, I will
defend the people's cause. I swear that I will serve my
country." x

The widest latitude was left him as to the interpre-
tation of this arcadian programme, for it was evident
that he would brook no interference or restraint where
his personal convictions were concerned, while it was
recognized that extreme measures were totally foreign
to his views. Prepare a pacific social revolution by means

1 La France parlementaire, vol. iv, p. 481.
• • 156 • •

THE HISTORY OF THE GIRONDINS

of the inculcation of ideas he might do, indeed, was
doing; but provoke the populace to violence he could be
trusted never to aspire to. Besides, despite the growing
dissatisfaction with the reactionary policy pursued by
the Ministers of the Crown, there was as yet no valid
ground for doubts as to the sincerity of the democratic
principles professed by the Throne — the Spanish mar-
riages notwithstanding. Few knew, perhaps the author
himself was unaware, of the impetus to be shortly given
to the outburst of popular sentiment by the publication
of the historical work to which Lamartine was devoting
long hours of patient study and indefatigable labour.
There is, however, a prophetic note in the last letter
written in 1846: "... I am finishing the 'Girondins'
this week. I shall go to Paris on January 15th or 20th.
I have nothing to do but to wait. The King is mad; M.
Guizot, an inflated vanity; M. Thiers, a weather-cock;
the Opposition, a harlot; the Nation, a senile weakling.
The conclusion of the comedy will be tragic for many." 1
In March, 1847, the "Girondins," portions of which
had appeared at intervals, was published in extenso, and
immediately took the reading public by storm. Between
the 20th of March and June II, the eight volumes of the
"History of the Girondins" followed each other in rapid
succession, and edition was heaped upon edition. Four
hundred men were kept steadily at work printing, stitch-
ing, and binding the popular volumes. Ladies waited all
night outside the publishing offices in order to receive a
copy.2 Booksellers who had ordered ten copies now sent
for five hundred. Within two months the sales exceeded
five hundred thousand francs, and the furor had in no
way abated. Lamartine had sold the copyright for two
hundred and fifty thousand francs, paid in advance ; but
in view of the enormous profits derived his publishers
1 Correspondance, dccclxxx. * Ibid., dccclxxxiii.

• • 157 ' '

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

added considerably to this sum.1 The day after the pub-
lication Lamartine wrote his friend, M. Ronot, that he
had signed a contract to furnish six supplementary vol-
umes on the Revolution. "Cela va au moins a quatre
ou cinq cent mille francs, peut-etre plus," he writes.
"Je payerai mes dettes par le travail." 2 Unfortunately
political events and succeeding lassitude and moral dis-
couragement prevented the execution of this literary
project, whereby the world has probably lost another
chef-d'ceuvre.

The causes for the phenomenal popular success of
this romantic version of a great historical event are
readily comprehensible, since they coincided with the
prevailing political and social discontent. The "History
of the Girondins" was published at the precise psycho-
logical moment when its effect would be most efficient.
The July Monarchy, oblivious of its revolutionary and
essentially popular origin, was straying farther and far-
ther from the fundamental principle which had brought
it into being. On every side there had been disastrous
errors; a persistent endeavour on the part of successive
ministries to debilitate the constitutional liberties vouch-
safed by the Charter of 1830; a reactionary policy which
threatened more and more to disfigure, if not totally
obliterate, the ideals inherited from 1789. And yet, what-
ever the faults and failures of Louis-Philippe's system of
government, there had undeniably been more of liberty
and respect for the law, and more material prosperity,
during the seventeen years his reign had lasted, than in
any former period in the history of France.3

Greatly as the Crown was in fault, especially in the
latter years, it would be unfair to put the whole burden

1 Lacretelle, op. cil., p. 96, who states that Lamartine received nearly
four hundred thousand francs.
1 Correspondance, dccclxxxv.
8 Cf. May, Democracy in Europe, vol. II, p. 271.

• • 158 • •

THE HISTORY OF THE GIRONDINS

on the shoulders of the King. Legitimists, Republicans,
the heterogeneous elements of the nefarious Coalition,
the often ill-advised and unpatriotic action of the loose
and floating Opposition, had all had a hand in the un-
making of the reign which Lafayette had optimistically
styled "the best of Republics." If France enjoyed a
greater material prosperity than ever before, the riches of
the country were concentrated in the hands of a class,
that of the bourgeoisie, and by their riches they ruled —
or were said to rule. The people, — the proletaire, — al-
though theoretically benefited by the constitutional guar-
antees of 1830, were in reality but little better off politi-
cally than had been the previous generation, while a
reactionary legislature appeared evermore prone to re-
strict and rescind the limited franchise flung as a sop to
their inconvenient appetite. Before his entry into public
life Lamartine had realized, and urged, the necessity
for the political and moral uplifting of the proletariat,
and a glance over his parliamentary career suffices to
demonstrate his incessant striving to this end. We have
seen how the selfishness of party and individual ambi-
tions, combined with timidity and greed, thwarting him
at every turn, had finally driven him into an attitude
of what many considered dynastic opposition.

The "History of the Girondins" was his eloquent pro-
test against this meretricious interpretation of the funda-
mental truths underlying the abuses and excesses of the
great Revolution which had proclaimed the rights of
man. Despite their errors and their crimes the Girondins
represented to him the intellectual and ideal side of the
Revolution. Into this work he put all his imagination,
all the magic of his style, caring little for strict historical
accuracy, but ever seeking the "spirit" of the tremen-
dous human struggle. He transposes dates, gives undue
space to episodes which personally please him, suppresses

• • 159 • •

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

or curtails important facts which lend themselves but
ill to the thesis his predilection has adopted, and multi-
plies portraits which, in his phantasy, replace a true
likeness.1 It is the poet and the artist who holds the
pen. To the scholar who toils along the rigid lines laid
down by the modern interpretation of the science of his-
tory, the work is practically valueless — a mere romance,
a poetic rendering of an intensely dramatic episode. But
as a picture — a highly coloured picture — as a consum-
mate effort of staging, posturing, and oratorical skill, the
work is a masterpiece unsurpassed in literature. The hu-
man interest grips the reader as in a vice, carrying him,
breathless, through a succession of scenes and episodes
each more vivid, each more pathetic or terrifying than
the last. But here, as is invariably the case in Lamar-
tine's work, the personal note is never absent. Sainte-
Beuve discerns "Jocelyn" in all the revolutionary pro-
files the author paints.2 There is perhaps a grain of truth
in this manifest exaggeration. Certainly Sainte-Beuve
was justified in doubting the aptitude of the author of
the "M6ditations" as a scientific historian. And yet the
great French critic acknowledged Lamartine's prodigious
gift of grasping what he calls " l'esprit general des choses."
M. Doumic holds much the same opinion. "L'61oquence
mene Lamartine a l'histoire, ou plutot l'histoire n'est
pour lui qu'une suite et une autre forme de l'61oquence."
And he adds that, despairing of attaining the influence
he sought by oratory alone, he thought to win the public
over to his views through a series of brilliant object
lessons, so to speak.3

But there were many less lenient critics. Among these
was Villemain, who unhesitatingly dubbed the "Giron-

1 Cf. Deschanel, op. cit., vol. II, p. 162.

1 fidouard Rod, Lamartine, p. 209; cf. also Sainte-Beuve, CauserUs du
lundi, vol. iv, p. 197.
' Cf. Lamartine, p. 197.

• • l60 • •

THE HISTORY OF THE GIRONDINS

dins" "paradoxe odieux, rehabilitation sophistique des
hommes de sang, tentative immorale pour produire un
grand effet au dehors, a defaut d'un succes assez grand
dans les Chambres." * Madame de Girardin, in her
"Lettres parisiennes," neither blames nor praises the
work, merely stating the undeniable fact that "the ap-
pearance of the 'Girondins' awakened all the furies of
party animosity, as it perforce must. This book is a
revolution ; it is a prediction ; it is symptomatic, perhaps a
decree ! ... It is certainly not without a reason that God
permitted such a man to write such a book." 2

Lamartine had gone about conscientiously enough
collecting material for his work, and had read enormously
in preparation for the task he set himself. With Dargaud
he visited several of the survivors of the revolutionary
period, gleaning from their recollections fragments of
conversations, personal appreciations, and a thousand
significant details, which went to make up the vivid
pictures he was to draw.3 His methods were absolutely
unscientific, but he was writing with an immediate pur-
pose in view, not a work of erudition, but of political
import. "Don't read it," he remarked to M. Mole, when
the book was published. "It is written for the people.
The people are about to play the principal part: they
must be prepared, to them must be given a distaste of
executions in order that the coming revolution may be
exempt from the excesses of the first. It is my duty to
prepare the people, to prepare myself, for I will be the
leader of a new social order." 4 He himself admitted the
inexactitude of the details. If he recognized, or thought
to recognize, a likeness between himself and Mirabeau
or Vergniaud, if Robespierre attracted him, it was be-

x Cf. G. Vauthier, Villemain, p. 144. * Cf. op. tit., vol. iv, p. 237.

3 Cf. Des Cognets, op. tit., p. 334.

* Souvenirs du Comte d'Estourmel, cited by M. des Cognets, op. tit., p. 329.

• • l6l • •

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

cause he, Lamartine, sympathized with the fundamental
moral principles prompting their policies. Robespierre
was a religious reformer and a pacifist: fifty years before
Lamartine, Robespierre held that to govern a people by
the strength of "virtue" was the sum of political ambi-
tion. All through the volumes of his history he puts his
own political programme, his personal ideals of social
progress, into the mouths of his heroes, adapting their
actions to fit the peculiar circumstances of the new rev-
olutionary conditions his instinct warns him are pending.
The book was written ad usum populi, as an example of
the virtues displayed in the great social upheaval of
1789, and a warning of the dangers which lay in the ex-
cesses of 1792. "Les Girondins," fascinating as the work
undoubtedly is, savours rather of the imagination than
of strict historical accuracy. Lamartine had borrowed
many documents touching on his subject from Joseph
Guadet, an historian of a widely different school, and
himself a nephew of the well-known conventional of the
same name. Writing at a much later date (1861) on the
publication of M. Guadet's volume, Lamartine pays a
graceful tribute to the author. " I was strongly moved by
the perusal of this fine document he has just given to
sober history, with so remarkable a talent. I forgot my
own effort in order to applaud, in mind and heart, this
family historian's work, for his soul, like his pen, appears
tinged with the stoicism of a Guadet and a Vergniaud." 1
At a much later date Lamartine himself wrote a criti-
cism of his "Histoire des Girondins." Too late, he real-
ized the harm done by the want of discrimination in his
pages. " I was indignant with myself," he confesses,
"on re-reading this morning the last lyrical page of the

1 J. Guadet, Les Girondins, cited in "Notice biographique" of the edi-
tion of 1889, p. xii. No trace of the original has been found in Lamartine 's
published works.

• • 162 • •

THE HISTORY OF THE GIRONDINS

'Girondins,' and I conjure my readers to destroy it, as
I destroy it before posterity and before God." 1

By reason of his eulogy of the Revolution of 1789,
Lamartine has been held personally responsible by many
critics for the overthrow of the constitutional and theo-
retically liberal Government of July. That he himself
accepted qualified blame would appear from his dis-
avowal of certain of the incriminating pages. But it would
be a gross exaggeration to pretend that any one man,
however brilliant his gifts, could influence, to the extent
of a social and political revolution, a nation of forty-odd
millions.

That the work fired the imagination of the reading
public and augmented the latent dissatisfaction of the
intellectual class with the existing political conditions, is
certain. But such purely literary effort could hardly be
expected to influence the masses, who had neither the
time nor the mental power to read and grasp the phi-
losophy contained in eight large volumes of lyrical prose.2
Of course, the Opposition and revolutionary newspapers
seized upon the book, adapting its philosophy to the
social requirements of their readers. But even this vul-
garization of Lamartine's apotheosis of the leaders of the
great Revolution must have been impotent to arouse pop-
ular sentiment had not a deep-seated economic unrest
permeated the country at large. The bourgeoisie, which
included the great financial and industrial elements, was
unmercifully bleeding the nation — the France of the
proletariat — for its own selfish ends, taking no heed of
the social discontent. Material prosperity, it was averred,
was greater than ever before. This was undoubtedly

1 Cf. Critique de VHistoire des Girondins, p. 258.

2 Writing to Mademoiselle Rachel, the famous actress, Lamartine says
that he leaves, as his visiting card, "huit enormes volumes"; adding:
"C'est la tragedie moderne qui se presente humblement en mauvaise prose
a la tragedie antique." Correspondence, dccclxxXviii.

• • 163 • •

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

true ; yet the nation's wealth was passing more and more
into the coffers of the privileged class. France was rich
to the profit of the few at the expense of the many. In all
fairness it must be admitted that the economic forces
previously paramount were undergoing transformations
hitherto unknown. The introduction of steam and its
attendant labour-saving machinery, the construction of
railways, and the increasing facilities of transportation of
produce from great distances, were revolutionizing the
factors which formed the basis of national and individual
prosperity. Immense capital was necessary for the ac-
complishment of the new economic structure, and to pro-
cure such capital untried fiscal and financial combina-
tions were inevitable. Material interests outweighed the
social in the scramble for gold. Unavoidably, perhaps,
prudent political economists overlooked or discarded the
claims of the humble toilers in their dreams of the com-
ing era of universal prosperity. They forgot the immense
step forward in education taken since the advent of the
Liberal Government of Louis-Philippe. They ignored
the insidious spread of popular indifference towards re-
ligion, and the consequent political materialism of the
masses.

These dangers had been foreseen by Lamartine. "Je
suis socialiste aussi, et je l'ai prouve dans mon premier
balbutiement pratique 'La Politique rationnelle,' "l he
remarked to Lacretelle a year or two after 1848. A so-
cialist in the present sense of the term he never was;
but from the first to the last of his public speeches he
never ceased urging the importance, the vital importance,
to the State of the consideration of the social equity
of every political and economic measure presented to
Parliament. Little by little it was borne in upon him
that, far from enlarging the circle of popular liberties and

1 Lacretelle, Lamartine et ses amis, p. 159.
. . 164 • •

THE HISTORY OF THE GIRONDINS

social progress, the Government of Louis- Philippe was
seeking to restrict the franchises guaranteed by the Con-
stitution of 1830. Since 1843 he had broken with the
retrograde conservative elements, with which, it is true,
he had only been spasmodically allied, and used his in-
fluence to combat, not the Throne, but what he called
"la politique du regne." Between that date and 1847
can be noted an ever-widening breach between his prin-
ciples and those followed by the advisers of the Crown.
Yet Lamartine was of an essentially anti-revolutionary
temperament, with all his eagerness for reform. If car-
ried away by lyrical enthusiasm he glossed over certain
actions, certain crimes against which his humanity re-
belled; if he glorified Robespierre and Danton, and ideal-
ized both Girondins and Montagnards, it was because he
sought the sacred principles behind the men and their
actions, because he believed the principles involved in
the French Revolution inseparable from those which
should guide France.1 The materialism, religious, politi-
cal, and economical, which invaded all realms of social
activity during the last decade of the reign of Louis-
Philippe, was an excuse, if an excuse were needed, for an ef-
fort to inculcate afresh the humanitarian doctrines which
had set fire to the great social upheaval of 1789, and
had persistently underlain the horrible excesses which un-
bridled licence had practised in the sacred name of Liberty.
A socialist of the red flag variety he had never been ; but
he could and did sympathize with the social party who in
1832 stated in their programme that they had less in
view a political change than une rejonte sociale. But he
could not go with them when they asserted that although
the extension of public rights, of electoral reform, and

1 Cf. Thureau-Dangin, op. cil., vol. vu, p. 49, who cites an interesting
conversation between Lamartine and M. de Carne shortly after the publi-
cation of his book.

• • 165 • •

LIFE OF IAMARTINE

universal suffrage, might be excellent things in them-
selves, they could be accepted as a means only, not as
an end.1

Again and again Lamartine averred that the form
of government which might be adopted was immaterial,
and as the years passed he was more and more inclined
to accept the Republic as the solution of both the polit-
ical and the social problems. But he was not prepared
to accept a "red republic" founded on spoliation and
anarchy: of this he gave ample proof when confronted
by the howling mob before the H6tel de Ville in February,
1848. To him the "complete establishment of the reign
of equality" meant not the communistic division of
property, but a just and equitable participation by all
classes in the benefits and burdens of government by
means of universal suffrage, radical electoral reforms,
and unrestricted extension of civic rights. Warm sym-
pathy with, and unqualified admiration for, each and all
of these fundamental principles of individual and col-
lective liberty can be discerned on every page of the " His-
toire des Girondins." Those who have followed step by
step Lamartine's political career will with difficulty ad-
mit that he deliberately intended to explode the mine of
popular discontent by the publication of the book.

There is, of course, damning evidence to the contrary;
but it is circumstantial evidence. In the first place, the
belief was general that Lamartine, dissatisfied with the
influence he wielded in the Chamber and with the public
at large, was eager to strike some telling blow which
should signalize him prominently before the country. A
story is told that Victor Cousin was approached by a
well-known editor who desired an article on Jesus Christ
written from a broad philosophical point of view. Cou-
sin refused the offer, but suggested Lamartine, who, he

1 Cf. Seignobos, Histoire politique de V Europe content poraine, p. 129.
•• 166 • -

THE HISTORY OF THE GIRONDINS

said, "was burning to compromise himself." 1 It is held
by many that the "Girondins" was written with this
object. "If you held a revolution in your hand, would
you open it?" asked Lamartine of M. Louis de Ron-
chaud, one morning as they walked in the park at Mon-
ceau.2 And Ronchaud adds: "Lamartine ecrivit alors
'Les Girondins,' et, tout en £crivant, il se disait a part
lui que ces pages de feu, qui chaque matin s'allumaient
sous sa plume, pourraient bien, en s'envolant de son ca-
binet, produire un incendie qui devorerait le tr6ne de
Juillet." And the biographer continues that Lamartine
was fully aware of the peril of the situation, but was
willing to run the risk rather than condemn to sterility
the budding germs of democratic liberties he had done so
much to foster and develop. Consequently "he opened
the hand whence took flight, volume after volume, this
terrible book." The scruples he felt were lost, writes
another critic, in the frenzy of the artist, combined with
irritation over the opposition he had encountered: they
melted before the recklessness of the gambler who blindly
seeks to recoup his uncertain fortunes.3 Lamartine him-
self substantiates the comparison when he writes M.
Ronot: "I have staked my fortune, my literary fame,
and my political future on a card to-night" (the eve of
the publication of the "Girondins," March 20, 1847).4
And he adds significantly: " It is said everywhere that the
fierce flame of great revolutions is being kindled, and that
it will better the people in the face of revolutions to come.
May God will it!"

Encouraged by the success of his book, and the praise
to which it gave rise, he remarked in conversation with
M. de Carne a few months later: "If I am applauded, it

1 Cf. Charles Alexandre, Souvenirs de Lamartine, p. 5.

2 La Politique de Lamartine, vol. I, p. lix.

3 Cf. Thureau-Dangin, op. tit., vol. vn, p. 47.

4 Correspondance, dccclxxxiv.

• • 167 • •

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

is because I have fulfilled a task of tardy justice. . . ." 1
And again, to M. Ronot: "C'est surtout le peuple qui
m'aime et qui m'achete." 2 To which might be added
his eloquent silence when it was pointed out to him, by
an enthusiastic admirer of the book, that the people were
ready to acclaim him President of the Republic.3

Yes. Lamartine had grasped the magnitude of the
crisis his opinions had helped to precipitate. And yet
there would seem adequate reason for the belief that at
the outset of his task he held no brief for the Revolution
after 1793. His horror of violence and bloodshed was
instinctive. If he seemed to palliate the unpardonable
excesses of the leaders of the Reign of Terror, it was the
poet, not the philosopher, who was accountable, and it
was the vanity of the successful author, not the pride of
the statesman, which was flattered by the immense popu-
larity he achieved. It is, therefore, Lamartine the poet
and not Lamartine the statesman we must seek in "Les
Girondins." The glorification of 1789, if not precisely
that of 1793, was in the air. With the Restoration, Thiers
and Mignet had begun the rehabilitation of the Revolu-
tion, and their respective histories had met with encour-
aging approval. Now both Michelet and Louis Blanc were
engaged on the same task.4 The artist and the lyric poet in
Lamartine, the romancer and the orator, the idealizer and
social reformer, all the aggregations which went to make his
concrete individuality, were deeply stirred by the story he
had to tell. Every wind that passed drew sounds from his
^Eolian harp, the strings of which resounded, untouched
by his fingers, with the blast of the tempest. ' ' Comme tou-
jours, il ne joua pas de son instrument : il le laissa jouer."

1 Cf. Correspondance of December 10, 1873.
1 Correspondence, dccclxxxiv.

' De Mazade, Revue des Deux Mondes, October 15, 1870.
4 Cf. £douard Rod, Lamartine, p. 210; cf. also Thureau-Dangin, op. cit.,
vol. vii, pp. 44-45.

CHAPTER XXXIX
A CAMPAIGN OF BANQUETS

The unparalleled success of the "Histoire des Giron-
dins," in the pages of which was to be found staunch ap-
preciation of many of the social problems then agitating
the public conscience, had fired the citizens of Macon
to do honour to their illustrious deputy. Public political
gatherings being banned, it was decided that the manifes-
tation should take the form of a banquet. The Govern-
ment, in no wise blind to the political significance of the
demonstration, and fully aware of the concealed hostil-
ity to the regime, could not well forbid this form of popu-
lar homage to a successful author. Although the Prefect
declined the invitation to preside, he dared not go to the
length of open interference. "The Republicans in our
midst wanted to take a muster of their forces," confessed
Lacretelle. "The word itself could not be spoken, but the
idea was ill-concealed beneath the reticence observed." *
Of course this was an open secret, but the authorities
were practically helpless, as long as the literary travesty
was maintained.

On the appointed day, Sunday, July 18, 1847, vast
crowds flocked to the site selected for the Gargantuan
feast, where five hundred tables were spread for three
thousand guests. Huge stands surrounded the banquet-
ing tent, on which were seated over three thousand spec-
tators. The whole enclosure covered more than two
acres. Forty towns in the neighbouring departments were
represented; journalists from Paris, public men from
Switzerland, and bands of English tourists mingled with

1 Lamartine et ses amis, p. 97.
• • 169 • •

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

the enormous crowds of peasants who, in their quaint
costumes, gathered from considerable distances to wit-
ness this unique sight.1 The banquet passed off in ad-
mirable order. The heat was, however, terribly oppres-
sive, and as Lamartine rose, after being introduced by
the Mayor of Macon, M. Rolland, a furious thunder-
storm, heralded by a perfect cyclone, burst over the as-
sembled multitude. In a trice the tent was torn asunder,
and six thousand human beings were exposed to the fury
of the elements. Yet such was the fascination of the mo-
ment that there was no panic: not a cry was heard, each
guest remained quietly seated, philosophically accepting
the drenching he received, in order not to lose a syllable
of the magnificent harangue Lamartine proceeded to
deliver amid the crashing of the thunder and the flapping
of the rent canvas. In his opening phrase, with felicitous
d, propos, he reminded his hearers that they were the
worthy descendants of those ancient Gauls who had
boasted that were the vault of the heavens to crumble
they would uphold it with their shields. "So you to-day
brave the elements," he cried, "in order to hear words
of righteousness and liberty." The address is for the
greater part a resume of his speeches in Parliament during
the past ten years, but what M. Louis Barthou calls the
speaker's "fluide oratoire" lent additional charm to the
impassioned phrases. And this in spite of the warring
of the elements which caused him to express the fear, in
writing to his wife, lest he had been "cold, worried, and
curt."2 Certainly his audience did not think so, if we
may judge by the enthusiastic applause which followed
each period. The vivid pictures he paints of the growth
of public hostility against the reactionary tendencies of

1 The details are taken from Lacretelle, an eye-witness, and from intro-
ductory lines to Lamartine's speech, given in extenso in La France parle-
mentaire, vol. v, p. 27.

* Cf. Lamartine oratcur, p. 220.

• • 170 • •

A CAMPAIGN OF BANQUETS

the Crown were calculated to impress a far less cordially
disposed gathering. "I said one day," he cried, " 'La
France s'ennuie!' I add to-day, 'La France s'attriste.'"
Innocuous as the phrase sounded, it contained a scathing
indictment against the mercenary scandals in ministerial
and parliamentary circles, scandals which were then
causing grave concern. He bitterly reproached the Gov-
ernment with fostering the spirit of materialism which is
choking the pure patriotism of the Nation. What is to be
the issue? Must France face another revolution — a flood
of irritated demagogy which will submerge the very
foundations of society? The orator gives no direct answer
to his question; yet he makes his meaning clear in the
toast he proposes. "Gentlemen! Here is to the regular,
progressive, and continuous triumph of Human Reason!
To the victory of Human Reason in the development of
ideas, in the institutions, and in the laws, in the recogni-
tion of universal rights, the freedom of worship, in edu-
cation and literature, and in both the reality and the form
of Government." !

This utterance has been styled an apotheosis of Re-
publicanism. It was certainly considered as such by the
thousands who applauded his words to the echo, and
escorted the speaker, shouting the "Marseillaise."2

And yet Lamartine v/as evidently still unprepared for
a great political upheaval, if we may credit the sincerity
of his letter to a colleague in the French Academy, M.
Chamborre. "I am far from desiring a revolution," he
wrote shortly after the delivery of the speech recorded
above. "In France a revolution has only one lever —
war. Do me the justice to remember that officially and

1 Cf. La France parlementaire, vol. v, p. 46.

2 In his letter to Dargaud of July 20, 1847, Lamartine writes: "... pas
une 'Marseillaise' dans les rues." (Correspondance, dcccxcv.) Lacretelle,
on the contrary, insists that the "Marseillaise" was sung during the cere-
monies. (Op. cit., p. 106.)

• • 171 • •

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

privately I have always striven to prevent it. Had I
wished a revolution in 1838 or in 1840, I would have
joined the Coalition and applied the spark which would
have set it ablaze. Who then sang the 'Marseillaise'
on the balcony at Neuilly? It was the King himself. Who
faced unpopularity to snatch a declaration of war from
the weak and trembling hands of M. Thiers? It was I.
Remember this. I admit with you that material prog-
ress is more secure in France with Conservatives than
with the Whigs ; but there is an immense moral progress
which it is necessary, obligatory to obtain within the next
fifty years, otherwise humanity will recede. The Throne
and the Conservatives of to-day are incapable of achiev-
ing this. For this reason I believe a more energetic im-
pulse in the Government of France is desirable, and I
resolutely face not revolutions, but reforms of the vital
issues." And the writer goes on to explain that it is in an-
ticipation of the "prophetic hour" he foresees, and to
hasten its advent, that he considers it his duty to fan
with his weak breath the sacred fire of 1789, of which the
last lingering embers will die unless a few men such as he
rekindle them. "Do not fear any excess of energy in
France at present. Her danger lies not there. Fear
rather her too heavy slumber, and do not be anxious
concerning the few men, right-minded men, who whisper
to her at times: sursum cordal"1

In the "Declaration of Principles" published in "Le
Bien Public," Lamartine is much more explicit. "In
a word we are Democrats," he proudly asserts; "Demo-
crats like Nature and like the Gospels. Truth is for
us Democracy organized as civic society and political
government. All the rest is fiction, sophism, lies, tyr-
anny." And he goes on to enumerate the desiderata of
the social body such as he would have it constituted. In

1 Correspondance, dcccxcviii.
• • 172 • •

A CAMPAIGN OF BANQUETS

the ideal scheme of things the people are sovereign; uni-
versal suffrage solves the electoral problem; ministerial
corruption is checked by the salaried representatives who
are thus enabled to maintain their independence of the
Government ; the King inviolable, but the princes simple
citizens ; real liberty of worship is attained by the separa-
tion of Church and State; the freedom of the press assured
by the revocation of the September Laws; to which are
added a long list of considerations, such as the abolition
of slavery; free public instruction; progressive free
trade; and a host of other economic and philanthropic
reforms or innovations, savouring more or less of the
socialism dictated by the principles of Christianity.1
That such a programme should appeal to the popular
mind was to be expected, and it followed that the politi-
cian who enunciated principles so in harmony with the as-
pirations of the masses should become their idol. Many
of Lamartine's articles of faith are now firmly incorpo-
rated in the political dogma of every civilized State : others
must ever prove too idealistic for human society. " Vous
venez de proclamer la Republique," insisted the friends
who crowded about him after his triumphal popular
ovation at Macon. "Perhaps," he replied, "but I am not
likely to see many years of the hegira." And pointing to
the scudding clouds between which the stars shone, he
sighed: "La Republique descend de la-haut. Ne la lais-
sez jamais se corrompre en bas." 2

M. Thureau-Dangin, referring to the banquet at MS-
con, sneers: "It was with an accompaniment of thunder-
clap and the roar of the wind, in the sheen of lightning,
that Lamartine spoke. Such a setting befitted his imag-
ination : he pictured himself the Moses of the Democratic
Revelation, in the midst of the bolts of a new Sinai."3 To

1 Cf. La France parlementaire, vol. v, p. 77.

2 Lacretelle, op. cit., p. 106. 3 Op. cit., vol. vn, p. 87.

• • 173 ' '

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

which M. Doudan ironically adds that the storm, having
found its master, retired in confusion.

The banquet at Macon, although not strictly speaking
the first of its kind, was to prove the signal for the opening
of a series of similar demonstrations which instituted the
campaign for reform throughout France.1 Like many of
the political innovations introduced during' the reign of
Louis-Philippe, the present form of agitation was bor-
rowed from England. During the year 1846 Richard
Cobden made a visit to France. The opposition seized
on the opportunity to familiarize their countrymen with
the methods employed across the Channel, and Mr. Cob-
den, in his interviews with French reformers, dwelt upon
the advantages of public meetings and banquets in in-
teresting the people in the question of reform. It was
speedily realized that M. Guizot's majority in the Cham-
ber forbade effectual parliamentary action. "We are
going to open the windows," observed an adversary of
the Cabinet, using practically the same phrase as had
Lamartine some years previously.2 It would appear
that Cobden himself, when he appreciated the meagre-
ness of the result aimed at in the agitation, doubted the
wisdom of the proceeding, as the electoral reform de-
manded did not exceed two hundred thousand voters
added to the list, comprising "les capacites," the profes-
sions, and a certain small increase from a slightly re-
duced tax-paying franchise. "Upon my expressing my
amazement that they should go for such a small measure
(which, to be sure, appeared insignificant to me, just
fresh from the total repeal of the Corn Laws), they
answered that it would satisfy them for the present;
it would recognize the principle of progress; and they

1 The first so-called "banquet reformiste" was given in Paris at the
Chateau Rouge, on July 9, 1847. Twelve hundred reformers sat at table.
* Cf. Thureau-Dangin, op. cit., vol. vn, p. 97.

• • 174 ' '

A CAMPAIGN OF BANQUETS

frankly confessed that the bulk of the people were not fit
for the suffrage, and that there was no security for con-
stitutional government excepting in a restricted electoral
class." »

Mr. Cobden's opinion of M. Guizot is worth quoting
here: "When I was in Paris in 1846, I saw M. Guizot,
and thought I had weighed him accurately as a politician.
I pronounced him an intellectual pedant and a moral
prude, with no more knowledge of men and things than is
possessed by professors who live among their pupils, and
he seemed to me to have become completely absorbed
in the hard and unscrupulous will of Louis-Philippe." 2
Later, continues Mr. Cobden, when the question had
reached an acute stage, "Guizot mounted the rostrum,
and flourished his rod, and in true pedagogical style told
them they were naughty boys — that they wanted to
have banquets, which were very wicked things, and that
he would not allow such things. ..." And speaking ret-
rospectively he adds: "There is not the slightest pos-
sible doubt (no Englishman but myself has so good a
ground for offering an opinion, for no other was in the
secrets of the French reformers) that if Louis-Philippe
had allowed an addition of two hundred thousand voters
to the two hundred and fifty thousand already on the
electoral list, he would have renewed the lease of the Or-
leanist throne for twenty years, and in all probability
have secured for the French people the permanent ad-
vantages of a constitutional government."

Although the Central Committee for Electoral Reform
was Republican in its essence, representatives of the
various benches in the Chambers had not hesitated to
give their adhesion to the movement. Thus "the win-
dows were opened" not by one particular party, but by

1 John Morley, Life of Richard Cobden, vol. I, p. 417.

2 Morley, op. cit., p. 416.

175

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

all those who had at heart the extension of the constitu-
tional liberties of France.1 Between July and the end of
the year over seventy of these banquets had been held
in the principal towns throughout the length and breadth
of the land. Combined with efforts to secure electoral
reforms were protestations against the corruption with-
in the Chamber and in all departments of the adminis-
tration. On August 1 8 the very foundations of the social
fabric were shaken by the news of the brutal murder
of the Duchess of Choiseul-Praslin by her husband. Al-
though at first sight no connection could be discerned
between this crime and the political agitation in progress,
the issue of the tragedy was seized upon to demonstrate
the inefficiency of the principles of equality before the
law. The opposition press made enormous capital out
of the miserable affair, insisting that class privileges had
been exercised, and common justice defeated and de-
frauded of an example by the intercession of the Upper
House, which had declared itself alone competent to try
the culprit.2 This incident did more, perhaps, to inflame
public opinion than the trial of MM. Teste and Cubieres
and other well-known political leaders involved in the
financial scandals for which the Ministry was held re-
sponsible. Confidence in the Government was under-
mined. A few hours after the news of the terrible crime
became known, M. Mole, the former Minister, wrote to
M. de Barante: "Notre civilisation est bien malade, et
rien ne m'etonnerait moins qu'un bon cataclysme qui
mettrait fin a tout cela."3 After the "cataclysme" had
taken place Sainte-Beuve, in March, 1848, exclaimed:
"The revolution now in course is social rather than po-
litical; M. de Praslin's action contributed towards it

1 Thureau-Dangin, op. cit., vol. vn, p. 81, et seq.

2 Before the termination of his trial, the Due de Praslin died on August
24 of the effects of poison. Cf. Thureau-Dangin, op. cit., vol. VII, p. 93.

1 Cited by Thureau-Dangin, op. at., vol. vn, p. 97.

176

A CAMPAIGN OF BANQUETS

perhaps as much as M. Guizot." To which he added that
Lamartine characterized it vigorously when he warned his
hearers (at the Macon banquet) concerning the "rev-
olution of public conscience, and that of disgust."1 M.
Thureau-Dangin, the great apologist of the July Mon-
archy, himself admits as much when he writes: "Under
the existing circumstances, the Due de Praslin's crime
was one of the most fatal blows not only against the mon-
archy, but against society." 2

From the steps of the throne to the workshop, the feel-
ing of insecurity and of impending disaster was pro-
found. The Duchess of Orleans voiced the general sen-
timent when she wrote of the universal disgust caused
by the lamentable weakness of those in power and the
growing indifference of the lower classes. ' ' Le mal est pro-
fond, parce qu'il atteint les populations dans leur mo-
ralite." 3 Only the old King and Guizot appeared either
blind or resolutely determined not to recognize the ex-
treme peril which faced them. Of course the campaign
of the banquets gained fresh impetus by reason of the
scandal of the Praslin affair. M. Odilon Barrot, although
nominally monarchical in his sympathies, was, strange
as it must appear, an upholder of the policy which
prompted the banquets, and himself attended more than
twenty, imparting an ever-growing revolutionary char-
acter to the functions.4 Lamartine, on the contrary, al-
though frequently invited to preside, refused to asso-
ciate himself with this form of agitation. "It was cer-
tainly neither timidity nor conservative scruples which
prevented him," maliciously writes Thureau-Dangin;

1 Portraits contemporains, vol. I, p. 377 ; cf . also Girardin, Lettres parisiennes,
vol. iv, p. 259, and Bourgin, Souvenirs d'une mission a Berlin, vol. 1, p. xxxv.

2 Op. cit., vol. vii, p. 97.

3 Arnaud, Madame la Duchesse d' Orleans, p. 114.

4 Thureau-Dangin, op. cit., vol. vn, p. 102. Maxime du Camp in his
Souvenirs (p. 42) ridicules Barrot's sententious utterances.

' • 177 • '

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

" it was disinclination to play second fiddle." M.Thiers
likewise refrained from any direct participation, which
prompted Odilon Barrot's caustic remark that "if Thiers
did not take his seat as one of the guests, it was because
he was the chief cook." *

It was in truth a strange medley of political parties
which congregated at these gatherings. Odilon Barrot,
although a fervent "reformist," was far from realizing
the inevitable consequences of his feverish agitation.
But the constant presence of certain guests at length
opened his eyes to the fact that for some months he had,
as the "Revue des Deux Mondes" expressed it, been
"dining with the Republic." Nothing daunted, however,
he fought bravely against ever-increasing odds to pre-
serve the purely reform characteristics of the agitation
he had so rashly inaugurated.

After the splendid triumph of the banquet at Macon,
Lamartine, partly on account of his health, partly, per-
haps, because he did not care to associate his name too
closely or prominently with a movement the issue of
which was not doubtful to him, decided to travel for a
few weeks. The financial success of his " Girondins " had,
temporarily at least, replenished his coffers, and having
money in hand Lamartine was not the man to hesitate
at spending it. Marseilles had been selected as offering
certain advantages for sea-bathing. Naples, Ischia, and
Palermo were also considered, but once comfortably
installed in the South of France, it was decided to re-
main there. Perhaps Lamartine considered it wise, in
view of the precarious political situation, to be within
easy reach of Macon or Paris. The reception offered
him at Marseilles was immensely flattering, and made
him appreciate keenly, if indeed such assurance was nec-
essary, that it was expected he would play a conspicuous

1 Op. cit., vol. vii, p. 106.
• • I78 • •

A CAMPAIGN OF BANQUETS

part when the crisis came. Between five and six thou-
sand workmen, hearing of his arrival, had gathered be-
neath his windows and offered him silent homage. "We
are about to begin a great battle, the battle of God. ... I
devote myself to God and to men, in order to lead them
to God. Some one must burn his hand ; I will, if necessary,
be that Mucius Scaevola of Human Reason." 1 To the
same correspondent he writes that although he had come
South for rest and quiet, he had been forced to make
seven speeches within a week, the popular success of
which had been "fabulous."

From Marseilles also is dated that curious letter to a
tailor at Macon, describing his interpretation of com-
munism. In this document, as well as in another written
a few weeks later to M. Cabet, one of the chief advocates
of the doctrine, Lamartine very clearly defines his objec-
tions to the creed. "No, I am not a communist," he
informed the tailor; "because I have the well-considered
conviction that communism would destroy at once prop-
erty, family, labour, capital, and wages, even the State
and the Nation."2 In his reply to M. Cabet he added:
"My opinion of communism is summed up in a sentence;
here it is: If God gave me a band of savages to civilize
and to which to impart morality, the first institution
I should insist upon would be property." And he goes
on to define the three fundamental bases of social order,
the State, the Family, and Property. "Communism," he
exclaims, "means the cessation of labour and the conse-
quent extinction of Humanity."3

On his return to Macon, in the middle of September,
Lamartine found the campaign of the banquets more
active than ever. But in spite of urgent appeals from the

1 Correspondance, dcccc. An allusion to the heroic conduct of the
Roman warrior who, having failed in his attempt to slay Porsena, held his
right hand in the fire until it was consumed.

2 Correspondance, dcccciii. * Cf. La France parlententaire, vol. v, p. 106.

• • 179 • •

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

four corners of France he refused to allow himself to be
dragged into the movement. " Le role de courrier national
ne me convient pas," he wrote his old school-fellow,
Guichard de Bienassis,1 but he foresaw the possible neces-
sity of taking part in those organized nearer home, in his
own Department, at Chalon and Autun. This letter also
contains the flattering information that the publishers of
"Les Girondins" were offering him double the amount
he had received for this book, if he would write another
on the same epoch. " But I have neither strength, time,
nor health at this moment," he avers; "my rheumatism
exhausts me." It is more probable, however, that he
realized he had exhausted the historical vein, and that
the new work he had in hand, well-nigh finished, in fact,
would amply compensate the public for the loss of a
"revolutionary episode." It was "Les Confidences" to
which he referred, and he was right in supposing that
public curiosity would be even greater concerning the
private life of the famous author than as to his inter-
pretation of an historical epoch.2

On October 24, 1847, Lamartine issued (in "Le Bien
Public") the first of three important articles which fol-
lowed each other at intervals of three or four days. " La
Situation de la France a l'Exterieur"3 is in substance

1 Correspondance, DCCCCVll.

2 The composition of Les Confidences had been begun during the visit to
Ischia, in 1844. Charles Alexandre, in his Souvenirs (p. 164), states that
Eugtne Pelletan, to whom Lamartine read some of the passages while still
at Ischia, on his return to Paris spoke in glowing terms of the manuscript to
Madame de Girardin, who from that moment urged the poet to complete
his story. Les Confidences began to appear in La Presse, M. de Girardin's
newspaper, in December, 1848. The author was paid forty thousand
francs for his rights, if we may credit Alexandre. Lamartine would have
preferred that the autobiographical work he had terminated at this period,
entitled Raphael, should precede the publication of Les Confidences, but
M. de Girardin did not agree with him. Cf. Correspondance, dccccxi. It
had been his intention to publish Raphael in the following March (cf.
Correspondance, dccccxiv), but the Revolution of February prevented.

3 La France parlementaire, vol. v, p. 91.

• • 180 • •

A CAMPAIGN OF BANQUETS

merely a rehash of the speeches he had made during the
enactment of the foreign policies he now attacked with
renewed bitterness. But it is not only a criticism or an
arraignment of the diplomatic blunders committed in
the name of France, but a scathing indictment of the
Minister in power, of the "pedagogue Guizot," as Mr.
Cobden styled him. Thiers comes in for his share of
blame, but it is Guizot and the King who receive the
brunt of his anger. Given the existing crisis, the attack
assumed an importance it could not have possessed when
delivered from the rostrum in the heat of parliamentary
debate. Lamartine was also enabled in print to dwell at
greater length on the humiliating international position
created for France by the selfish family interests involved
in the Spanish marriages, on the sacrifice of England's
friendship and political support. In detail he examined
and analyzed with consummate skill the existing situa-
tion in Italy and Switzerland. Pius IX had just startled
the world with his professions of liberalism, and his open
antagonism to Austrian supremacy in the Peninsula.
Throughout Italy the Pope was hailed as the champion
of national independence, the hero of the constitutional
movement at that period welcomed as the panacea for
all political ills. Lamartine, however, had little faith in
the liberalism of a theocratic sovereign, and warned the
world not to accept too literally the clerical tocsin-bell
of independence. But he was wrong when he prophesied
that the man who could unite all Italy under his banner
must be a foreigner; the star of Victor- Emmanuel and
of Cavour had not yet risen above the dark horizon of
tyranny-ridden Italy. Turning to the burning question
of intervention in Switzerland, where the Jesuits had
lighted the torches of internecine war, Lamartine favoured
a French policy which should guarantee to their neigh-
bours every facility for revising their constitution on lines

• • 181 • •

LIFE OF IAMARTINE

calculated to fortify national independence and draw-
closer the bonds of confederation between the cantons.
Here again the writer discerned the baneful influences of
the Spanish marriages, which had alienated France from
her Liberal friends in England, and driven Louis-Philippe
into the arms of the absolutist Powers.

Meanwhile the banquets were being multiplied through-
out the length and breadth of France, and this novel form
of protest and popular manifestation was causing the
Government increasing embarrassment. It would appear
that, despite repeated refusals, the organizers were deter-
mined to include Lamartine among the guests. To Emile
de Girardin he wrote on December 5: "Les banquets
m'obsedent. J'en ai juste quarante surma table ce matin."
The universal homage thus paid to his political influ-
ence was certainly flattering, and Lamartine was fully
alive to its significance. In the same letter he draws
attention to the fact that his position is not as isolated
as his foes pretend, and that should he utter the word,
thousands would flock to his standard.1 For reasons of
his own, however, Lamartine preferred not to pronounce
the sentence which would rally round him the followers
he discerned in every province of France. He was con-
tent to let events shape their own course ; more and more
convinced that the hour was at hand when he would be
called upon by popular acclamation to fill the r61e of
supreme arbiter of the Nation's destiny.

At Lille (November 7, 1847) Ledru-Rollin made a
great speech which he dedicated to the labouring classes,
and in which he referred to Lamartine as the sincere
friend and admirer of "pure democracy." Far from being
embarrassed by this public acknowledgment of his sym-
pathies, the author of the "Girondins" replied in "Le
Bien Public" of the 14th, that the communism of

1 Correspondance, dccccxi.
• • 182 • •

A CAMPAIGN OF BANQUETS

Ledru-Rollin was about the same as his own; "that is to
say, an intelligent love of the people, a live pity for the
sufferings of the masses, an earnest realization of the
injustice of which they are the victims owing to a legis-
lature in which they possess neither representation nor
deliberative action. . . ." "Does not this page explain
the condescendence of Lamartine's subsequent opinions? "
queries M. Victor Pierre in his "Histoire de la Repu-
blique de 1848," 1 and we must perforce agree that it is
the entering wedge, at least, of his public action. But,
nevertheless, Lamartine decided not to attend even the
local banquets, and to hold himself aloof as much as pos-
sible from direct participation in the movement. At the
same time he published a scathing article in "Le Bien
Public," entitled "Le Banquet de Chalon," in which he
handled somewhat roughly Thiers and Barrot.2 He had
as little inclination to be identified with the extremists
as with the dynastic elements, believing the isolation in
which he stood must, when the storm burst, prove pro-
ductive of greater authority. Lacretelle would seem to
attribute Lamartine's refusal to attend the banquet at
Chalon to the fear of being eclipsed or rivalled by the
brilliant orators who were to take part in it, and to Lamar-
tine himself he expressed the fear that his non-participa-
tion might be construed as a disavowal of the cause.
Frankly admitting this interpretation, Lamartine ex-
plained that much as he admired Ledru-Rollin, one of the
pillars of democracy, he could not ally himself openly
with the Radicals, between whom and the Republicans
there existed, according to his way of thinking, "a fatal
distinction."3 It is comprehensible that Lamartine at
this stage of the crisis should have hesitated to meet in
public men professing such ultra-advanced theories as

1 Op. cit., vol. 1, p. 32.

1 Correspondance, dccccxiii. 3 Cf . Lacretelle, op. cit., p. 1 13.

• • 183 • •

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

Ledru-Rollin and Flocon, the latter especially, who
styled himself openly a Red Republican.1 But it is as-
tounding to note that Lamartine failed to discern any
vital difference between the political theories of these
politicians and those he himself held concerning the
interpretation and ultimate aims of democracy. Never-
theless, whatever his private conclusions may have been,
it behooved him to avoid compromising himself with any
special designation at this juncture, at the risk of for-
feiting in the popular mind the unique political position
he held — that of an absolutely disinterested friend of
the people and an unbiassed advocate of social reform in
the broadest sense of the term.

Lamartine has been accused of entertaining an over-
weening ambition to play the saviour of society. Yet
there was nothing but what was strictly legitimate in his
ambition. He never condescended to intrigue for the
furtherance of the aims he had in view: nor did he exer-
cise even the common ruses of diplomacy to conceal or
push his object. On every occasion he spoke out fear-
lessly what was uppermost in his mind, braving unpop-
ularity with honest scorn, and sacrificing personal advan-
tages for a principle. Nor was there even method in
his ambition. "L'ambition de Lamartine etait vaste et
flottante comme toutes les grandes ambitions," wrote
Sainte-Beuve.2 And Sainte-Beuve was not a lenient critic.

Parliament opened on December 28, 1847, and Lamar-
tine was early at his post, for he knew the session would
prove a momentous one. Yet on the surface no signs of
extraordinary agitation were visible. In both Houses the
Government still controlled, or nominally controlled, a
considerable majority. The opposition, it is true, dis-
played symptoms of unusual excitement; but this was

1 Cf. Mcmoires politiques, vol. II, p. 59.
* Portraits content po rains, vol. I, p. 377.

184

A CAMPAIGN OF BANQUETS

comprehensible after six months of increasing activity
during the campaign of the banquets. Nevertheless, the
recent political and financial scandals, followed by a
perfect epidemic of suicides in administrative and diplo-
matic circles, caused M. Guizot's Cabinet grave concern.
It was realized that the tension had reached an extremely
dangerous point, and that some alleviation must be
found if a catastrophe was to be avoided. Even the
Government majority, although numerically consider-
able, appeared morally undermined ; if they still adhered
to the ministerial policy, they did so almost reluctantly,
displaying docility rather than confidence.1 The elec-
tions of the previous year, it was agreed by the optimists,
had returned this majority. This was undoubtedly true,
but the optimists forgot, or purposely overlooked, the
fact that the two hundred thousand voters who had
returned the elements of this majority constituted but a
fraction of the thirty-five millions who peopled France.
The recent agitation had been set on foot to double the
electorate, or what was termed "le pays legal"; but, as
has been seen, the movement soon showed unmistakable
signs of hostility towards the whole political system in
power. The political revolution, if revolution there was
to be, was designed merely as the means for the social
revolution which was to follow. Lamartine had intui-
tively grasped this fact; hence his disinclination to iden-
tify himself prominently with the men who, throwing aside
the pretext of reform, were now openly seeking the destruc-
tion of the system which they had established in 1830.

M. Guizot had now been in power eight years, prac-
tically exercising uncontested control. He had system-
atically set his face against progressive reforms of any
kind, and although strictly constitutional in spirit, he
was not unreasonably accused of distinctly reactionary
1 Cf. Thureau-Dangin, op. cit., vol. Vii, p. 326.
• • 185 • •

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

practices. Abroad his motto was "Peace at any price,"
even at the cost of humiliation to the national pride, and
in this policy he was credited with following explicitly
the instructions of the King. Hence, both Louis-Philippe
and his Minister shared the growing unpopularity of the
regime. On all sides the King was urged to dispense with
the services of M. Guizot, who, it was alleged, constituted
the stumbling-block to the renewal of his own popularity.
But the aged sovereign realized that M. Mole was the
only alternative, and that through the introduction of
the reforms M. Mole would insist upon, M. Thiers must
inevitably and rapidly succeed him. "Thiers, c'est la
guerre; et je ne veux pas voir aneantir ma politique de
paix," protested the King. And he added petulantly:
"D'ailleurs, si on me pousse, j'abdiquerai."1 Theoreti-
cally Louis-Philippe was absolutely within his constitu-
tional rights when refusing to dismiss a Minister who still
enjoyed a parliamentary majority, because such Minister
happened to be unpopular with a certain class of political
agitators. But politically he committed the fault which
cost him his throne. M. Guizot himself showed appreci-
ation of the gravity of the situation when he spontane-
ously offered to retire, as a measure of prudence, at the
outset of the fatal session.2 The King, however, was
obstinately immovable: "C'est a moi, a moi personnelle-
ment que les banquets se sont attaqu6s," he exclaimed,
"et nous verrons qui sera le plus fort."3

In his Speech from the Throne (a document which, as
is usual, had been prepared by the Ministers in power)
Louis-Philippe confined himself to generalities when

1 Thureau-Dangin, op. oil., vol. VII, p. 329. It has been said that Louis-
Philippe had previously considered abdication and the appointment of his
son-in-law, the King of the Belgians, as tutor or regent, during the minority
of his grandson, the Comte de Paris. Cf. Duke of Saxe-Coburg, Aus
meinem Leben und meiner Zeit, vol. 1, p. 184.

* Cf. Guizot, Memoires, vol. vm, p. 543.

» Thureau-Dangin, op. cit., vol. vn, p. 343.

• • 186 • •

A CAMPAIGN OF BANQUETS

dealing with the relations of France with foreign coun-
tries. Short references were made to Switzerland, but
Italy, where the most portentous events were in progress,
was not mentioned.1 Turning to the consideration of
home affairs the King affirmed that, despite the agitation
fomented by " hostile or blind passions," he was sustained
by the conviction that in the constitutional monarchy,
the union of the great powers of the State, were to be
found the means for overcoming all obstacles, and the
satisfaction of all the moral and material interests of the
country. The maintenance of social order by a strict
adhesion to the Charter would ensure public liberties and
allow of their development. There was nothing reac-
tionary in the tenor of the speech: on the contrary, the
aged sovereign appeared animated with the most con-
ciliatory as well as progressive sentiments. But the parti-
sans of the movement inaugurated by the banquets took
violent exception to the words "hostile or blind passions."
It is said that during the preliminary discussion of the
Address, objections had been raised as to the wisdom of
this phrase by various framers of the document, but that
M. Guizot had insisted on the offensive words being re-
tained, exclaiming, "I wish to carry the war into their
camp."2 In debate the phrase would have passed un-
noticed, but put into the mouth of the King it appeared
insulting to those members of the Opposition who had
sympathized with or taken an active part in the reform
campaign. If M. Guizot really desired to carry the war
into the enemy's camp, he could not have chosen a more
effective method. Given the state of public opinion, the

1 Cf. Thureau-Dangin, op. cit., vol. vu, p. 342; cf. also Sir Theodore Mar-
tin, Life of the Prince Consort, vol. II, p. 2: "The Government of Louis-
Philippe had cut itself off from the sympathies of England, and it was
known to be pursuing a line of policy both in Switzerland and in Italy which
might readily lead to a European war."

J Thureau-Dangin, op. cit., vol. vn, p. 343.

187

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

provocation of this comparatively trifling incident was
injudicious, to say the least, and indeed it proved the
spark which was to set aflame the smouldering embers of
revolt. At a meeting held at Odilon Barrot's residence
by Opposition members of all shades, — Left, Left Centre,
Republicans, and Legitimists, — after having considered
the advisability of their resignation en masse, it was
decided that war to the knife should be declared.1

Although he had taken no personal part in the ban-
quets, Lamartine expressed himself thoroughly in sym-
pathy with his outraged colleagues. An opportunity for
addressing the Chamber did not occur until February 1 1
(1848), but on January 2 he published a scathing letter
in "Le Bien Public," upholding the rights of the people
to discuss openly and freely the affairs which so closely
concerned them. The Speech from the Throne, he main-
tained, characterized insultingly the expression of opin-
ion which had stirred the country during the last six
months, attributing, as it did, to the movement "hostile"
or "blind" passions. Such epithets constitute a pro-
nouncement against the legitimate exercise of the right
of political assembly for the discussion of sentiments
or measures affecting public opinion. The moment, he
avers, is singularly ill-chosen. From one end of France
to the other such manifestations have taken place with-
out disturbing the public peace or necessitating police
intervention of any nature. Such orderly demonstrations
of public opinion should not excite the anger of a gov-
ernment truly desirous of popular progress, but inspire
admiration and pride. The rare expressions of a seditious
nature which had escaped from the mouths of two or
three demagogues had speedily been repudiated by the
majority of those present. The banquet at Chalon had,
indeed, been signalized by the presence of radical orators,

1 Cf. Guizot, Mtmoires, vol. vill, p. 553.
• • 188 • •

A CAMPAIGN OF BANQUETS

but legally and socially it was irreproachable, and had
given rise to no public scandal.1

All this was undoubtedly true, yet Lamartine was per-
fectly aware that the character and aims of the banquets
had changed materially, and that extreme revolutionary
doctrines had insidiously crept in, not only at Dijon,
Autun, and Chalon, but at Rouen and a dozen other
places. He had himself rebuked the incendiary tendency
of certain theories openly expressed by declared revolu-
tionists such as Flocon, and in a lesser degree Ledru-
Rollin. At the same time, he was fully determined to
defend energetically the principles which underlay the
popular form of protestation against the reactionary
policy of the Government, insisting with all his might on
the legality of the movement. If his action seems some-
what paradoxical, the explanation must be sought in the
peculiar self-confidence of the man. The fact should not
be lost sight of that Lamartine honestly believed himself
destined to play the role of saviour of society when the
catastrophe he had so persistently prophesied over-
whelmed France. If he was to play this part efficiently,
no entangling alliances must hamper his freedom of
action. His democratic sympathies — nay, convictions
— were well known. For years he had been speaking
through the "open windows," over the heads, as it were,
of his colleagues in Parliament. None could doubt the
sincerity of his opinions, for his acts had been thoroughly
in accord with his words. Open revolt he still deprecated :
but the hour was at hand when he was to confess himself
prepared to face even the gravest consequences in de-
fence of the honour of his country. That he afterwards
professed regret, even humiliation, concerning the action
he advocated, is a psychological problem which will be
examined in due course.

1 Cf. La France parlementaire, vol. v, p. 116.

CHAPTER XL
ABDICATION OF LOUIS-PHILIPPE

Meanwhile events were rapidly approaching a cli-
max, although few of the actors in the drama as yet
realized the full import of the complicated situation
or its far-reaching consequences. On January 29, 1848,
Lamartine mounted the rostrum for the first time in
eighteen months, and vehemently denounced the Gov-
ernment's foreign policy in Italy and in respect to the
reactionary Sonderbund conflict in Switzerland. As in
his articles in the press, he attributed the reversal of
the traditional liberal policy of France to the nefarious
Spanish marriages, which constituted the negation of the
spirit and the essence of the Monarchy of July. "From
that day" (the conclusion of the Spanish negotiations)
France, against its traditions, had become "Ghibelline
at Rome, sacerdotal at Berne, Austrian in Piedmont,
Russian at Cracovie, Prussian in Poland, French no-
where, counter-revolutionary everywhere."1

Ten days later, on February 11, he took up the burn-
ing question of the reform banquets, which, as will be re-
membered, the Address from the Throne had charac-
terized as the agitation of "hostile and blind passions."
Lamartine does not deny that the popular unrest and dis-
content had been fanned and increased by the speeches
and discussions at these political assemblages, which he

1 La France parlementaire, vol. v, p. 148. Cf. also Pietro Silva, La Mo-
norchia de Luglio e Vltalia (Turin, iBocca, 1917), p. 425. Silva bitterly
reproaches Lamartine for his change of attitude towards Italy when in
power a couple of months later, as does also A. Stern, in his Geschichte
Europas sett den Vertrdgen von 1815 bis zum Frankfurter Frieden von 1870.
Cf. vol. in, p. 526.

• • IQO • •

ABDICATION OF LOUIS-PHILIPPE

likened to the summum jus of a nation seeking to warn
its leaders of their errors and lead them back to an
appreciation of their obligations. "I did not assist per-
sonally at the reform banquets," he asserts, "for reasons
apart from politics ; mais fy ai participe de cceur, j 'y ai
participe d'esprit, fen ai accepte le principe et fen ai
accepte d'avance fermement toutes les consequences. Oui,
il y a eu agitation, une agitation honnete, une agitation
salutaire, . . . une agitation qui n'avait rien d'artifi-
ciel."1

Here, at least, was a straightforward, unequivocal
declaration of war, combined with a clear and unqualified
profession of faith in the legality and righteousness of
the campaign the Government sought to discredit. With
the dangerous extremists who had joined the ranks of
agitators he had no affinities. But together with his col-
leagues of the Left he had fanned with one hand, while
tempering with the other, "the flames of honest indigna-
tion and legitimate patriotism which burned only too
readily in the souls of his fellow-citizens." The metaphor
may be accepted literally, for if Lamartine exerted a
restraining influence on occasion, he contributed by his
writings and openly expressed sympathy to fan, or popu-
larize, the agitation on the lines which Cobden had advo-
cated. And if electoral reform and the extension of the
vote had been the initial object of the banquets, he, more
than any other, had contributed to the introduction of
repeated censure on the Government's foreign policy
and the dynastic selfishness displayed in Spain. Nor does
he now seek to limit his own responsibilities. Frankly
and clearly he admonished the Ministry that if they per-
sisted in prohibiting the banquet it was proposed to hold
in Paris within the next few days, they would be sealing
their own doom. After a lengthy political and historical

1 La France parlementaire, vol. v, p. 155.

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

dissertation he wound up his improvisation with an
impressive warning not to imitate the foolhardy Minis-
ters of Louis XVI, owing to whose blindness the old
regime had perished.

Few realized, while they listened to these impassioned
words, how swiftly the fulfilment of the prophecy was to
overwhelm the stubborn resistance of the dynasty which
sought to curb the liberties on which its throne was
founded. Yet some were not so blind to the gravity of
the crisis. Among the officials who sought to warn the
King, the Prefect of Paris, Count de Rambuteau, stands
out conspicuously. Again and again he explained to
Louis-Philippe that the secret societies were plotting an
outbreak, and that many of the National Guards could
not be depended upon.1 The King refused all credit to
such alarmist tales, for had he not the positive assurance
of Guizot that the Government was fully able to cope
with the crisis? As a consequence the Government re-
fused to grant the necessary permission for a banquet
fixed for January 19, 1848, and which was to close the
campaign. M. Guizot's decision caused little surprise,
but great indignation. The Minister had definitely and
positively declined to consider the proposed reforms,2
and he not unnaturally wished to avoid the extra-parlia-
mentary agitation which the Opposition sought to bring
to a culminating point in the presence of a meeting
composed of official representatives of the people and
the leaders of the malcontents of all social classes. On
February 7 the discussion on the "Banquets de R6forme"
was violently opened by M. Duvergier de Hauranne, who
denied the legality of the Government's decision, or
"ministerial ukase," as he styled the high-handed pro-

- Memoires du Comte de Rambuteau, p. 296; cf. also Lord Normanby,
Journal of a Year of Revolution, vol. I, p. 57.
2 Guizot, Memoires, vol. vm, p. 551.

• • 192 • •

ABDICATION OF LOUIS-PHILIPPE

ceeding, and called upon his colleagues to defy it. There
is reason for the belief, however, that M. Guizot would
willingly have made some concessions to the persistent
clamour of the reformers, but that he hesitated to do so
on his own responsibility, knowing that the King would
disavow his action. In a curious volume relating conver-
sations with Louis-Philippe after his flight to England,
M. Edouard Lemoine states that the deposed monarch
was resolved to abdicate rather than sanction the re-
forms.1 The struggle was watched with keenest interest
abroad. Lord Palmerston would have welcomed Guizot's
downfall, as must also the Liberals in Italy and Switzer-
land, but in Berlin and Vienna the possible outcome
caused considerable alarm.2

The Committee of the Reform Banquets finally de-
cided to close the long series of this form of manifesta-
tion by a monster meeting to be held on February 20,
in the Twelfth Arrondissement of Paris. In order to
avoid as far as possible the danger of a popular uprising,
this comparatively isolated quarter of the city, close to
the Arc de Triomphe, was selected in preference to the
more central districts. In fact, every desire was apparent
on the part of the organizers to avoid disturbing the pub-
lic peace by the demonstration they planned, which was
intended principally as an earnest of their determination
to assert their legal rights of public meeting, and to force
the Government to prosecute those who attended the
banquet. At the outset the Ministry had not proposed
to use force to prevent the banquet, but merely to send
a commissary of police who should take down the names
of those present and arraign them before the courts. The
Opposition was unanimous in its decision to accept the

1 Cf. L' Abdication du roi Louis-Philippe racontee par lui-mime, pp. 40-
44; cf. also Thureau-Dangin, op. cit., vol. vn, pp. 388-90.

2 Comte Hiibner, Une annee de ma vie, p. 12.

• • 193 ' '

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

judicial battle on these grounds, and everything was
arranged in consequence for a pacific demonstration
which should exclude, as far as feasible, the purely revo-
lutionary elements which might seize upon the oppor-
tunity to bring about an armed conflict.1 Unfortunately,
the impatient Republicans conceived the idea of calling
upon the members of the National Guard to attend
the ceremony, without arms, but in uniform. Alarmed
at the magnitude of the proposed demonstration, the
Government rescinded its previous concessions and an-
nounced the intention of breaking up the meeting by
force. "It is inconceivable folly in the Government,"
wrote Lord Normanby in his "Journal," "to have pro-
voked such a conflict upon a point where, I am told (if
they rely, as hitherto, upon the Act of 1789), the Cour
de Cassation are sure, in the last resort, to declare them
wrong."2

M. Thureau-Dangin, on the contrary, would seem to
believe that the Government was absolutely justified in
its decision to prevent the banquet by force, in view of
the immense preparations made by all classes to show
their sympathy with the movement. A great procession,
he asserts, was to accompany the deputies through the
town as they marched to the meeting-place. The agita-
tion was becoming general. In all classes of society the
banquet was the absorbing theme of conversation. The
students were especially excited, while in the faubourgs
many workshops announced their intention of closing,
and the workmen agreed to march with the crowd. Nor
were the secret societies inactive. M. Louis Blanc and
other advanced leaders demanded a place in the pro-
cession for two or three hundred workmen wearing their

1 Cf. Lamartine, Memoires poliliques, vol. II, p. 68; cf. also Lord Nor-
manby, op. at., vol. I, p. 69.
1 Op. cdt., vol. 1, p. 70.

• • 194 • •

ABDICATION OF LOUIS-PHILIPPE

characteristic blouses, thus proving that the demonstra-
tion was not exclusively bourgeois in its component parts.1
At a meeting held at the residence of M. Odilon Barrot
on February 18, by members of the Parliamentary Oppo-
sition, to consider what steps should be taken in view of
the Government's threat to use force, no decision was
reached. On the morrow the same deputies met again
at Durand's Restaurant in the Place de la Madeleine;
but the opinions of the two hundred members of Parlia-
ment present were as diversified and far from harmony
as ever. In vain did M. Odilon Barrot, who presided,
call upon the tumultuous meeting to consider the issue
with calm and dignity. The problem was fraught with
such grave consequences, whichever way it was to be
solved, that the vast majority of those present hesitated
to take definite action in one direction or another. Should
the Opposition yield, all its moral authority over the
country would be irretrievably forfeited. Should it push
its resistance to the last extremity, the cost of victory
might include the advent to power of the very elements it
dreaded — the Radicals — who desired, and were openly
agitating for a revolution at any price. So close an
observer as Lord Normanby could not be blind to the
gravity of the situation. "There is no doubt," he wrote,
"that, in the present state of public opinion, an imposing
and perfectly peaceable demonstration, attended by
peers and deputies, by almost all the members and all the
mayors of Paris, the municipal council, and thousands
of National Guards in uniform, would be the death-blow
of the present system of government, and such a conse-
quence is no doubt much to be deprecated ; but the alter-
native of a conflict is dreadful, and by no means certain
in its result."2 Nevertheless, the English Ambassador
believed that, owing to the immense garrison of regular

1 Cf. Thureau-Dangin, op. cit., vol. vn, p. 399. 2 Op. cit., vol. 1, p. 74.
• • 195 • •

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

troops, the triumph of the Government would be com-
plete, should an armed collision become inevitable.

M. Berryer, to whom many of his colleagues looked for
wise counsel, only added to the general confusion which
reigned at the meeting held at Durand's Restaurant:
Lamartine alone among the excited orators succeeded in
animating their courage by virtue of his impassioned
harangue.1 In no wise concealing the dangers and diffi-
culties of the situation, or belittling the responsibilities
they would assume in the attempt to carry out their
original programme, he called upon his colleagues to take
definite action, regardless of consequences. What was
their situation? he asked them. "We are placed by the
provocation of the Government between disgrace and
danger." Personal disgrace they might one and all be
willing to face; but as representatives of the country
they would include France in the shame they must be
called upon to bear. Such disgrace they could not put
upon their country. It was an act of citizenship they were
called upon to perform, and France would be the wit-
ness, through the eyes of the people of Paris. Steady and
calm they must make this appeal, not to the violence,
but to the justice, of their country. Serious dangers
there were. But were not the abjuration of the Nation's
rights, the acceptance of arbitrary measures, the encour-
agement of attempted ministerial usurpation, the abase-
ment of the national character before all the foreign
governments; were not all these dangers also? The rest
was in the hands of God, he assured his hearers; and
he prayed that a spirit of order and peace might inspire
the multitudes which must inevitably flock to what was
intended as a pacific and conservative manifestation of
their institutions. "Let us hope that no collision take
place between armed and unarmed citizens. Let us con-

1 Thureau-Dangin, op. cit., vol. vn, p. 403.
• • 196 • •

ABDICATION OF LOUIS-PHILIPPE

jure all citizens that it may be so. Let us leave the rest
to Providence and place the responsibilities on the
Government which provokes and alone necessitates this
dangerous manifestation." The speaker concealed noth-
ing of the peril of the situation should the soldiers make
use of their weapons, but they owed it to their country's
rights not to flinch in face of death. Amid prolonged
applause the orator sounded this moral call to arms with
the exhortation: "Ne deliberons plus, agissons"; adding
that if his colleagues refused to attend the banquet, he
would go alone, "accompanied by his shadow."1

At a meeting held in the offices of "La Reforme" on
the evening of the 21st, D'Alton-Shee, speaking in the
name of Lamartine, expressed the readiness of many
attending the meeting at Odilon Barrot's house to take
up arms in the name of Liberty.2

It is certain that Lamartine was carried away by his
enthusiasm, and that the legality or even the logic of his
proposal will not bear close scrutiny. The right of as-
sembly, although, perhaps, the right of every free people,
was not specifically set down in the Charter. In conse-
quence the Ministry had not violated the letter of the
Constitution, although M. Guizot is open to the accusa-
tion of interpreting the spirit for the furtherance of his
ends. In counselling his hearers to defy the constituted
authority of the land, and practically to place their cause
— righteous as it might be — in the hands of the people
(which he was well aware meant the mob), Lamartine
was guilty of a gross political error. If his object was to
overthrow the Ministry, the aim would have been accom-
plished by the exercise of a little patience, for the Court
of Appeal, to which the dispute would have been carried,

1 La France parlementaire, vol. v, p. 168.

2 Cf. Souvenirs de 1847 et de 1848, also A. Cremieux, La Revolution de
Fevrier, 1848, p. 86; both give fullest details of almost every hour during
four whole days.

• • 197 • •

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

would most certainly have decided in favour of the depu-
ties, outraged in the free exercise of their rights; and the
downfall of M. Guizot and his Cabinet was assured. It
is probable that the abdication of Louis-Philippe would
have followed as a natural consequence, and the intro-
duction of the desired reforms must inevitably have
been accepted by his successor. None felt this more
strongly than Lamartine himself, and in after years he
bitterly reproached himself with acting under the stress
of excitement and without political discernment.

Rumours were persistently circulated that the Guizot
Cabinet had resigned, or was about to resign: in view of
the general popular and political effervescence a change of
Ministry could not long be delayed.1 Lamartine could
not have been ignorant of the extremely precarious situ-
ation of the discredited Ministry. Was he actuated by
selfish motives of personal aggrandizement? Did he risk
stirring up a revolution in order that he might enact the
long contemplated role of saviour of society? He acknowl-
edges an outburst of vanity, and this sentiment may at
bottom have prompted the rash action he so eloquently
advocated. Two days after the memorable gathering of
the Parliamentary Opposition at Durand's Restaurant,
Lamartine wrote his friend M. Rolland, Mayor of Macon,
a letter which clearly shows the intense mental excite-
ment under which he was labouring. Demoralization
was in the air, he affirmed, and Berryer's words had
caused a general stampede of the more timorous elements.
This he was called upon to check, and he threw himself
heart and soul into the melee. "S'il y a des balles dans
les fusils," he wrote M. Rolland, "il faudra que les balles
brisent ma poitrine pour en arracher le droit de mon
pays."2 There is no mistaking the ring of sincerity in
these words. Forty-eight hours after the scene at the

1 Cf. Normanby, op. cit., vol. i, p. 76. 2 Correspondance, dccccxvii.
• • 198 • •

ABDICATION OF LOUIS-PHILIPPE

Cafe Durand, Lamartine was still labouring under the
control of passionate conviction. The sacred constitu-
tional rights of his countrymen were, in his judgment,
criminally menaced, and, at the cost of his life, he was
determined to defend them. In an undated letter, written
to the same correspondent after the resignation of
Guizot's Ministry, he affirms that he is congratulated on
all sides for his action. There is no symptom of hesita-
tion or regret, no doubt as to the wisdom of the course
he urged his colleagues to pursue: in every line is ap-
parent self-applause, and unconcealed satisfaction over
the discomfiture of the King.1

Less than two years later, however, Lamartine thought
very differently of his action, which retrospectively
loomed dark on his political conscience. His med culpd
is repeated twice in the "Memoires politiques,"2 but the
confession he made to M. de Chamborant within a few
months of the incident is not only the most comprehen-
sive, but, not being intended for publication, has the
ring of a confidential and unpremeditated outpouring.
After relating the circumstances which gave rise to the
meeting at Durand's, he states that Barrot and several
others declared that matters had already gone too far
and that they would not attend the banquet. " I believed
these men yielded to a feeling of pusillanimity in face of
peril, rather than to a well-considered sentiment of
patriotism, and, led astray by the false and facile glamour
of physical courage, I declared that it was too late to
recede, and that even abandoned by all, I would go alone
to the banquet. I acknowledge that in this supreme
circumstance I acted wrongly, and I bitterly blame my-
self. I was led by too personal a feeling not to be guilty.
In a word, I yielded to the temptation of vanity and

1 Correspondance, dccccxviii. The date is probably February 23.
8 Op. tit., vol. n, p. 75, and vol. iv, p. 456.

• • 199 . .

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

pride." And he goes on to praise Odilon Barrot for the
exercise of true patriotic courage. As for himself, ill in
bed, he had been unable to carry out his threat of going
alone, and was consequently consoled by the conviction
that he was " completement innocent de la revolution
ou fut precipit6 mon pays."1 There are many who will
hardly agree as to his "complete innocence," although
they may readily absolve him of undue blame.

Lamartine certainly exaggerated the general effect of
his rash advice to his colleagues, for the same afternoon
(February 19) a committee consisting of various leaders
of the Opposition agreed with friends of the Government
to cooperate in an attempt to avert the danger of an
insurrectionary conflict, and "reach, without disturb-
ance or violence, by judicial means, the solution of the
question of legality which had given rise to the contro-
versy."2 Louis-Philippe himself was prevailed upon to
give his sanction to an arrangement by which, should
the banquet be insisted on, the Commissary of Police,
stationed at the door, would simply take down the names
of the deputies attending, and the whole matter would
then be referred to the courts. Meanwhile preparations
for the banquet were pushed forward, and the date was
fixed for the 22d (a Tuesday) on the lines agreed upon by
the Government and the committee. "All seemed peace-
ful," writes M. Thureau-Dangin, "when on the morning
of the 2 1 st, several of the advanced newspapers of the
Opposition issued the programme of the demonstration
it was proposed to hold on the morrow."3 M. Marrast,
a member of the staff of the "National," and a professed
Republican, had drafted this document, calling upon the
people and the National Guard to take part in the im-

1 Baron de Chamborant de Perissat, Lamartine inconnu, p. 40.

2 Guizot, Memoires, vol. vm, p. 560; cf. also Thureau-Dangin, op. cit.,
vol. vii, p. 466.

* Thureau-Dangin, op. cit., vol. vn, p. 411.

• • 2O0 • •

ABDICATION OF LOUIS-PHILIPPE

mense procession which was to escort the deputies to the
banqueting hall. Scenting treachery, the Government
lost no time in making the preparations necessary to
prevent trouble, forbidding public assemblages or the
mustering of the National Guard. A hastily called meet-
ing at M. Barrot's house, where M. Thiers urged his col-
leagues to yield, decided by a vote of eighty to seventeen
that the deputies would not take part in the banquet. In
vain did Lamartine again point out the disgrace attend-
ing retreat; his words had no effect on the "panic-
stricken"1 members of Parliament. At a meeting held
at the same place, but which was attended also by the
committee which had the organization of the banquet in
hand, the discussion culminated with the almost unani-
mous decision to abandon the proposed demonstration,
but to impeach the Ministry. The defection of the depu-
ties had, of course, deprived the event of its representa-
tive and official character, and the Government, it was
realized, would have no hesitation in suppressing by force
a manifestation of a purely popular and avowedly revo-
lutionary nature.

Lamartine, and four or five of the most ardent sup-
porters of the party of action at all costs, alone continued
the struggle. The deputy from Macon reiterated his
intention of going alone, "accompanied by my shadow,"
as he picturesquely expressed it. Whereupon Count
d'Alton-Shee immediately announced his intention of
marching at the head of the procession, side by side with

1 Thureau-Dangin, op. cit., vol. vn, p. 416. Daniel Stern (Madame
d'Agoult), in her Histoire de la, revolution de 1848 (vol. 1, p. 97), states that
M. Marrast offered the same advice as Lamartine, but Thureau-Dangin,
on the authority of M. Duvergier de Hauranne, who was present, positively
affirms that M. Marrast, in the name of humanity and love of the people,
urged that the banquet be abandoned. "Qu'un conflit s'engage," he is re-
ported as saying, "et la population sera ecrasee. Voulez-vous la livrer a la
haine de Louis-Philippe et de M. Guizot?" Op. cit., vol. vn, p. 417; cf.
also Percy St. John, The French Revolution in 184.8, p. 69, and Cremieux,
op. cit., p. 88.

• • 201 • •

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

the intrepid poet.1 In order to arrange details the hand-
ful of dissenting deputies met at Lamartine's house the
same evening.2 But when the news reached them that
not only their colleagues of the Opposition, but the extra-
parliamentary organizers of the banquet, had definitely
decided to give up the whole affair, they quietly separated
with the understanding that they would await further
developments.3 Lamartine himself has left but a laconic
record of what must have been an extremely interesting
discussion. Seven or eight peers and deputies attended
and resolved to defy the Government, he tells us.
"Quelques instants plus tard," he adds, "ils apprirent
qu'aucun banquet n'aurait lieu. lis se separerent." 4

It was the wisest course they could have pursued
under the circumstances, for the Government had as-
sembled all available regular troops within the city, and
the strategic measures adopted were calculated quickly to
suppress insurrectionary outbreaks in the various quar-
ters where such popular uprisings were most appre-
hended. The next day, Tuesday, February 22, General
Jacqueminot's proclamation forbidding the participation
of the National Guard in any demonstration, together
with an order signed by the Prefect of Police formally
prohibiting the banquet, was posted on the walls of Paris.
Crowds of disappointed citizens began to assemble on
the boulevards, but their attitude was by no means
threatening. Little by little these were joined by the less
peaceful and order-loving elements from the faubourgs,
to which were shortly added the ever-restless and turbu-
lent students, marching to the strains of the "Marseil-
laise." There was no definite plan or prearranged itin-
erary, no authorized leaders, yet by a common consent

1 Souvenirs de 1847 et de 1848, p. 222.

* Cf. Memoires de Caussidiere, vol. I, p. 36.
8 D'Alton-Shee, op. cit., p. 228.

* Mfmoires politiques, vol. 11, p. 77.

• • 202 • •

ABDICATION OF LOUIS-PHILIPPE

the ever-increasing, heterogeneous multitude drifted,
rather than marched, towards the Place de la Concorde
and across the river to the Chamber of Deputies.
Blouses were in the majority, and their number continu-
ally swelled.

Meanwhile at the Tuileries the King warmly congratu-
lated his advisers on remaining firm in their decision,
expressing his belief that all was well and that it would
have been folly to yield to the demands of the Opposition.1
Nevertheless, in spite of the military precautions, and
the thirty thousand soldiers 2 distributed throughout the
streets, a certain uneasiness began to prevail in official
circles. Although the mob surrounding the Palais Bour-
bon (Chamber of Deputies) had been driven back from
the immediate precincts of the Chamber, vast multitudes
continued to occupy the Place de la Concorde and adja-
cent thoroughfares. After two o'clock the deputies began
to assemble, and on the opening of the session M. Odilon
Barrot laid on the table the act impeaching the Govern-
ment. Only fifty-three members of the Opposition had
consented to sign this document — barely half of those
present at the meeting held at M. Barrot 's residence
forty-eight hours previously. M. Odilon Barrot's name
headed the list, and his signature was followed by that of
M. Duvergier de Hauranne; but Lamartine's is conspicu-
ous by its absence. The discussion of the impeachment
having been fixed for the next day but one, the Chamber
adjourned. No record exists of Lamartine's presence at
this session. In fact, we have his own assertion that he
did not leave his dwelling after his friends met there on
the evening of the 2 1st until he appeared at the Chamber
on the 24th.3

1 Thureau-Dangin, op. cit., vol. vil, p. 422.

2 Cf. L. Gallois, Histoire de la revolution de 1848, vol. 1, p. 3; most of the
authorities agree as to this number.

3 Memoires politiques, vol. II, p. 159.

• • 203 • •

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

Nevertheless, he listened eagerly to the mixed reports
which friends brought him from hour to hour. The situa-
tion was, indeed, a confused one, baffling the political
acumen of the most experienced. None could pronounce
whether they faced insurrection or revolution. Even the
leaders of the secret societies hesitated to risk compromis-
ing themselves, while the Republicans looked for no
definite results. Rioting of the usual mob variety there
was, indeed, and minor collisions occurred between the
populace and the Municipal Guards. But of bloodshed
there was none during February 22. 1 Windows were
broken in several public offices, and a hostile demonstra-
tion took place in front of M. Guizot's official residence,
while repeated cries of "Vive la re forme!" and "A bas
Guizot!" alternated with the strains of the "Marseil-
laise." Towards evening an attack was made on a small
guard-house near the Place de la Concorde; an attempt
was made to construct a barricade in the rue de Rivoli,
a few gunsmiths' shops were broken into, and later a
heterogeneous mob set fire to piles of chairs in the
Champs Elysees. But thus far the movement was dis-
tinctly insurrectionary, and no organized revolution was
apparent, or even seriously feared on the one side or de-
sired on the other. Louis-Philippe retired to rest fully
assured that victory was once more his, and that on the
morrow calm would be found to have been completely
reestablished.

The morning of February 23 dawned chill and rainy,
and Paris seemed outwardly quiet. Before nine o'clock,
however, rioting was in progress in various quarters. Yet
the disturbances were sporadic: no popular leaders of
any sect directed the mob in the erection of the barricades

1 Thureau-Dangin, op. cil., vol. vn, p. 431; contra, David Stern, op. cit.,
vol. 1, p. in, and L. Gallois, op. cit., vol. 1, p. 5. Lamartine (Afemoires poli-
tiques, vol. 11, p. 80) asserts that no blood was shed.

204

ABDICATION OF LOUIS-PHILIPPE

which began to span the narrower streets. At several
points the troops were attacked, or rather molested, by
the rioters, and here and there, during a charge through
the crowd, people were wounded, some fatally. The mil-
itary occupation of Paris had been decided on the previ-
ous evening, but the soldiers, while observing scrupulous
discipline, were only half-hearted and loath to act ener-
getically. A partial attempt to enrol the National Guard
had given but meagre results the evening before; but it
was now felt that in spite of the danger of defection it
would be impolitic not to make a general appeal to this
popular arm to quell the growing disturbance. Although
they responded in considerable numbers, it was evident
that the spirit which animated this corps was not favour-
able to the Government. From their ranks rose cries for
reform, and the demand that the King be forced to change
his Ministers. There was talk of arresting Guizot and
conducting him to the dungeons of Vincennes.1

Gradually the news spread that the National Guard
would not support the Government, and little by little it
became evident that the regular troops, although they
might not be in sympathy with the insurrectionists,
would avoid any collision with the disaffected regiments.
At the Tuileries the alarming reports which poured in
created consternation. The Queen herself now urged her
husband to accede to the popular demand and to dismiss
Guizot forthwith, and the old monarch, dreading civil
war, began to be shaken in his resolution to enforce his
will. "J'ai vu assez de sang," he kept repeating to him-
self as he listened to the arguments of those surrounding
him, and at last he yielded and sent for the unpopular
Minister. When M. Guizot returned to the Chamber,
and with considerable dignity announced that the King
had sent for Count Mole and charged him with the for-

1 Maxime du Camp, Souvenirs, p. 49.
• • 205 • •

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

mation of a new Cabinet, pandemonium broke loose
within the walls. Mad and furious accusations of treach-
ery were hurled at their late chief by those who had sup-
ported him, while the benches of the Opposition gave
vent to equally tumultuous joy. There can be little
doubt but that Louis-Philippe's tardy action, in dismiss-
ing M. Guizot under the circumstances above related,
contributed as effectively to his overthrow as his stub-
born resistance to the reforms. That the armed interven-
tion of National Guards should be necessary to force a
change of Ministry from a sovereign whose reign began
behind barricades seemed as incomprehensible to Lord
Normanby as it did to the populace. "There was always
a distrust of the King's sincerity," wrote the British Am-
bassador; "there is no longer any belief in his sagacity,
since he has been so blind to the signs of public opinion."1
The truth of this assertion was speedily to be proven.

As soon as he arrived at theTuileries M. Mole, thank-
ing the King for his confidence, frankly informed him
that at the present issue he felt himself powerless to stem
the rising tide. "The banquets are victorious," he stated.
" It is now for those who organized the banquets to quell
the movement. The only advice I can give the King is
to call MM. Barrot and Thiers."2 Yet, yielding to the
King's pressing requests, M. Mole at once set forth to
ascertain whether the statesmen he had named would
be willing to aid him in the task of constituting a cabinet.
This combination seemed calculated to satisfy the re-
quirements formulated by the National Guard,3 and to
pacify the agitation aroused by the Government's refusal
to permit the reformist banquet. Indeed, such would
appear to have been the case, for the crowds which filled
the streets clamoured for the illumination of the public

1 Op. cit., vol. i, p. 87. * Cf. Thureau-Dangin, op. cit., vol. vii, p. 450.

1 Daniel Stern, op. cit., vol. I, p. 119.

• • 206 • •

ABDICATION OF LOUIS-PHILIPPE

buildings as a sign of the popular rejoicing, and in several
instances the request was carried out. When the mob
reached the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, at that time
situated on the Boulevard des Capucines, it found the
thoroughfare blocked by a battalion of the Fourteenth
Regiment of the line, and further progress was thus made
impossible. Angered by the refusal of the officer in com-
mand to allow them to pass, the mob pressed on the sol-
diers, insulting and twitting them; while cries of "Down
with Guizot!" "Vive la reforme!" and imperious de-
mands that the building be illuminated rent the air.
Suddenly a shot rang out, none knew whence, and the
troops, believing they were attacked, fired a volley into
the seething crowd. A movement of panic ensued — a
panic shared strangely enough by mob and soldiers alike ;
breaking their ranks the troopers fled in disorder through
the adjacent streets, pell-mell with the scudding rioters.
The pavements were strewn with torches, flags, hats,
sticks, umbrellas, and firearms, and in pools of blood lay
about fifty dead or wounded.1

The whole fateful incident was so sudden, so unex-
pected, that even to-day no satisfactory explanation is
forthcoming. Much has been written concerning the
"coup de pistolet de Lagrange," but trustworthy authori-
ties affirm that this scatter-brained demagogue was far
distant from the scene of action at the time. Be this as
it may, the incident was the signal for the outburst of
popular fury which followed. The bodies of the unfortu-
nate victims were paraded through the streets ; workmen
in blouses, with flaring torches, accompanied the dread
procession, crying for vengeance. "Aux armes!" "Aux
barricades!" responded the mob, amid the din and clang
of the church-bells pealing forth the tocsin. In a trice the
whole city seemed in an uproar.

1 Thureau-Dangin, op. tit., vol. vn, p. 455.
• • 207 • •

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

It was ten o'clock when the King heard of the catas-
trophe. M. Mole had not yet returned to the Tuileries.
About midnight Louis-Philippe was informed that all
attempts to form a ministry had failed. Nine precious
hours had been lost since the resignation of M. Guizot's
Cabinet. Distasteful as was the fact, the only course now
open to the King seemed to be to call on M. Thiers.
Meanwhile public safety demanded the immediate
appointment of Marshal Bugeaud to the general com-
mand— a necessity which had been repeatedly advocated
during the previous day. At half-past one in the morning
the Marshal arrived at the Palace, and, in view of the
gravity of the crisis, accepted the thankless task with
which he was entrusted. But M. Mole's failure to form
a ministry had left France without a legal government,
and the King found himself compelled to seek the aid of
Thiers, who, summoned in haste, arrived at the Tuileries
at half-past two.

While professing his willingness to come to the aid of
the Crown, M. Thiers insisted on having as his colleagues
MM. Odilon Barrot, Duvergier de Hauranne, and De
R6musat, and as his programme the acceptance of the
electoral reform and the dissolution of the Chamber.
After a lengthy discussion the unfortunate King agreed,
in principle, and the remainder of the night was devoted
to completing the Cabinet. On all sides violent opposi-
tion was raised to the appointment of Marshal Bugeaud,
as it was felt hostile action on his part would antagonize
the National Guard, to whom Thiers and his friends looked
for the reestablishment of public order. Meanwhile the
Marshal had made his dispositions, together with General
Bedeau, for the military occupation of the city and the
forcible suppression of the insurrection. The reasons
why this programme was not put into effect are complex,
but there is ground for the belief that Marshal Bugeaud

• . 208 • •

ABDICATION OF LOUIS-PHILIPPE

himself sought a place in the Thiers Cabinet, in order
that, as Minister of War of a Liberal Ministry, he might
overcome the unpopularity he at present experienced.1
Whatever his considerations may have been, early in the
morning of the 24th orders were issued to cease firing
at all points, and the public was informed that an agree-
ment had been reached, and that the National Guard
would assume the duties of policing the town; to which
were added notices that, making use of his constitutional
prerogatives, the King had charged Thiers and Barrot
with the formation of a cabinet, and that His Majesty
had confided to Marshal le due dTsly (Bugeaud) the
supreme command of the National Guard and all the line
regiments. It is possible the suggestion came from the
members of the Cabinet Thiers was in the act of forming.2
It was too late for conciliatory measures, however; the
mob had tasted blood. Barricades sprang up in all direc-
tions: over fifteen hundred being counted, nearly all in
the hands of Republicans. The proclamations announc-
ing the formation of the Thiers Ministry were torn down
and trampled under foot, for the name of Bugeaud was
hateful to the populace, on account of his cruel suppres-
sion of the riots in April, 1834. No faith was given to the
news that Thiers and Barrot had been entrusted with
power. In vain did Barrot himself parade the streets
announcing the change of Ministry. The angry crowds
greeted him with hostile cries, reproaching him with
being himself a dupe, and shouting: " Down with Thiers!"
" Down with Bugeaud ! " "The People are the masters ! "
"Down with Louis-Philippe!"3 All doubt was now at an

1 Thureau-Dangin, op. cit., vol. vn, p. 470, who cites a letter to Thiers
written during the night, in which the Marshal offers himself as Minister
of War.

1 Cf. Daniel Stern, op. cit., vol. I, p. 151.

3 Cf. Thureau-Dangin, op. cit., vol. vn, p. 478; also Daniel Stern, op. cit.,
vol. I, p. 159.

• • 209 • •

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

end: it was no longer an insurrection, but a full-fledged
revolution, which was in progress. Already the mob was
demanding to be led to the Tuileries, and when M. Barrot
reached his own residence, escorted by a clamouring
crowd, he found there an assemblage of deputies, jour-
nalists, and members of the central committee of the
banquets, many of whom favoured the abdication of the
King. Except in the streets the word "Republic" was
scarcely breathed aloud ; yet all realized that no other so-
lution of the political crisis was now possible.

Meanwhile, at the Tuileries news of the spread of the
revolt and of the increasing and fatal collisions between
the mob and soldiery was causing serious alarm. The
royal family, assembled round the breakfast table, was
constantly interrupted by the unceremonious arrival of
political men, aides-de-camp, and messengers of all sorts,
each adding to the confusion already existing. Thiers,
finding the prestige of his name insufficient to meet the
extreme crisis, counselled the King to place everything
in the hands of Odilon Barrot. But an hour later it was
recognized that even this concession was inadequate,
and that only the abdication of the sovereign could save
the situation. "The life of the King is in danger," M.
de Remusat assured the aged monarch; and Thiers and
others confirmed this opinion, counselling retirement to
Saint-Cloud or some fortress.1 A moment later an aide-
de-camp of General Bedeau arrived, bringing news that
the mob was retreating from the Place de la Concorde.
Acting on the advice of those surrounding him, Louis-
Philippe hastily donned his uniform of General of the
National Guard, and slipping the Legion of Honour
around his shoulders, sallied forth into the court of the
Tuileries to review the troops assembled there. Here
and there as he passed down the line he was greeted with

1 Daniel Stern, op. cit., vol. i, p. 167.
• • 210 • •

ABDICATION OF LOUIS-PHILIPPE

a cry of "Vive le roi!" Yet, as he progressed, the clamour
for reform silenced the loyal exclamations. Discouraged
by the ill-concealed hostility of the men on whom he re-
lied for protection, the ill-fated sovereign returned to the
Palace, leaving Marshal Bugeaud to continue the review.
Lamartine, in his "Histoire de la Revolution de 1848,"
published within a year of the events described, asserts
that an officer, M. de Prebois, in his eagerness to arrest
the effusion of blood, attempted to parley with the mul-
titude. "You want reform," he shouted. " It is promised
you. You asked that the Ministers be dismissed. They
are dismissed. Who are the men enjoying your confidence
in whose hands you are willing to entrust your liberties
and the execution of your wishes? The King has just
nominated M. Thiers. Are you satisfied?" To which the
mob yelled, "No! No!" "Then he will appoint M.
Barrot." Again the angry crowd refused. "Would you
lay down your arms, ' ' shouted the would-be pacificator, ' ' if
the King called M. de Lamartine?" "Lamartine! Long
live Lamartine!" cried the multitude. "Yes! Yes! There
is the man we need. Let the King give us Lamartine, and
all can still be arranged. We have confidence in that one."
"But," adds the author of these lines, "Lamartine en-
joyed the confidence neither of the King nor of M. Thiers
nor of those devoted to Barrot, not even that of the
Republicans of the ' National ' or the ' Reforme.' He stood
alone."1 Contemporaneous chronicles contain no men-
tion of this incident; but it is not impossible that M. de
Prebois did harangue a group, or groups, of insurrection-
ists, mentioning the name of Lamartine as one likely to
meet with the confidence of the people in a crisis. Lamar-
tine often boasted that in parliamentary debates he spoke
"through the window," meaning that his words were in-
tended for the populace. Nevertheless, the historical
1 Lamartine, op. cit., vol. 1, p. 1 14.
• • 211 • •

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

accuracy of the above-quoted incident is doubtful, resting
entirely on the authority of Lamartine himself. The impli-
cation, however, that he, Lamartine, had no connection
with the republican party of the "National" and "Re-
forme" is misleading. No irrefutable proof exists, it is
true, that Lamartine had direct dealings with this party;
yet when the crisis was reached, the Republicans turned
instinctively and confidently to him before the opening
of the last session, when the fate of the monarchy, as
represented by a regency, still hung in the balance.

The question has been raised as to whether Lamartine
was a Fre'emason, or in sympathy with one or several of
the secret societies, foreign and domestic, which swarmed
in Paris during the reign of Louis-Philippe.1 Here again
no documentary evidence is available, yet it is permissi-
ble to presume that the members of such sects or societies
looked to Lamartine (perhaps as an unconscious instru-
ment) for the furtherance of their schemes, while realizing
the latent conservatism of his social and political theories.

Midday was near at hand, when suddenly M. de
Girardin, pale and greatly agitated, burst into the King's
study brandishing a sheet of paper, and, on being ques-
tioned, replied that there was not a minute to lose; that
the People would have nothing of Thiers or Barrot, but
demanded the immediate abdication of the King, the
regency of the Duchess of Orleans, the dissolution of
the Chamber, and a general amnesty.2 Dumbfounded,
Louis-Philippe gazed at those surrounding him. After a
moment of agonized suspense, the Due de Montpensier
impatiently urged the same course, and repeated cries
of "Abdication!" "Abdication!" reaching his ears from

1 Cf. Maurice Barres, "Un dejeuner lamartinien," Echo de Paris, April
II, 1913; contra, Andre Lebey, Louis- Napoleon Bonaparte et la revolution
de 1848, vol. I, p. 47.

2 Cf. Thureau-Dangin, op. cit., vol. vn, p. 490; also Daniel Stern, op. cit.,
vol. I, p. 171.

. . 212 • •

ABDICATION OF LOUIS-PHILIPPE

various quarters, the aged monarch, apparently dazed
by the enormity of the demand, murmured wearily, "I
abdicate." On hearing the words, the Due de Montpen-
sier, followed by several persons present, left the room
in order to announce the King's decision to those wait-
ing outside. Slowly rising from his seat Louis-Philippe
opened the door into the drawing-room where the Queen,
the Duchess of Orleans, the little Comte de Paris, and
other members of the royal family were waiting, repeat-
ing the words aloud: "I abdicate." In vain did Marie
Amelie, sobbing and embracing her husband, urge the
King to reconsider his decision; in vain did the Duchess
of Orleans throw herself at his feet, implore her father-
in-law to be firm and face his enemies; in vain also did
M. Piscatory warn that " L'abdication, e'est la repu-
blique dans une heure," — adding that an energetic atti-
tude could even yet save the monarchy: Louis-Philippe,
although hesitating, seemed incapable of decisive action.
The din of firearms was already clearly discernible, and
the Due de Montpensier kept drawing attention to the
imminence of the peril. Hastily he pushed pen and paper
before the King, almost roughly urged speed, and impa-
tiently waited while his father collected his scattered
thoughts.1 With difficulty Louis- Philippe wrote and
signed the following document: "J'abdique cette cou-
ronne que la volonte nationale m'avait appele a porter,
en faveur de mon petit-fils, le comte de Paris. Puisse-t-il
reussir dans la grande tache qui lui echoit aujourd'hui.
Paris, le 24 fevrier, 1848." A moment later the scrawl
was in the hands of a messenger charged with delivering
it to Marshal Gerard. But the Marshal could not be
found, and passing from one to another the paper finally
fell into the possession of the insurgents.2

1 Daniel Stern, op. cit., vol. 1, p. 173.

2 Thureau-Dangin, op. cit., vol. vu, p. 494.

• • 213 • •

LIFE OF IAMARTINE

In the interval carriages had been made ready, and
almost as the mob invaded the Tuileries, the King and
Queen, accompanied by members of the royal family
and a handful of faithful friends, left the Palace on foot,
and, joining the conveyances on the Place de la Concorde,
hastily drove towards Saint-Cloud. Practically alone,
surrounded by the remnants of her suite, the Duchess
of Orleans, with her sons, took refuge in her apartments,
anxiously awaiting the arrival of those authorized to
proclaim the Regency.

Since the evening of the 2 1st, when during a confer-
ence with his parliamentary colleagues news of the defi-
nite abandonment of the banquet had been received,
Lamartine had remained within doors. But although he
took no part in the scenes enacted on the streets, it is
certain that every phase of the drama, during its evolu-
tion from insurrection to revolution, was speedily and
accurately reported to him by the friends who were in
uninterrupted touch with the leaders of the movement.
Always suspected of republican sympathies in spite of
his refusal to commit himself openly to the cause,
Lamartine's name was deemed a considerable asset in
the councils of those who began to discern in the popular
disturbances the germs of an agitation favourable to their
ideals. In the editorial dens of such newspapers as the
"National" and " Reforme" it was felt that the influence
of this eloquent advocate of democratic liberties could
hardly be overestimated, and that every effort must be
made to secure his cooperation. Although irrefutable
documentary evidence is lacking, the assumption seems
plausible, in view of subsequent events, that Lamartine
was sounded during the twenty-four hours preceding the
abdication of Louis-Philippe as to the opportunism of the
proclamation of the Republic as soon as the retirement
of the aged King should have taken place.

. . 214 • •

ABDICATION OF LOUIS-PHILIPPE

Lamartine himself assures us that he was "etranger a
toute espece de conjuration contre la monarchic, "* and
it is probable that he took no active part in the plots
which were hatched in the republican committee-rooms.
Nevertheless, with or without his consent, but assuredly
with his knowledge, his name was constantly in the
mouths, if not on the lists, of those who were directing
the turbid stream of mob violence into the channels
which should conduct public opinion to the acceptance
of the Republic. An unconfirmed rumour was current
that, prior to the abdication of the King in favour of his
grandson, Ferdinand Flocon, later a member of the
Provisional Government, had come to an understanding
with Lamartine concerning the rejection of the Regency
of the Duchess of Orleans. Unauthenticated as this report
is, it is hardly conceivable that Lamartine was wholly
unprepared for the offers made him on his arrival at the
Palais Legislatif at noon of February 25. Nor does
Lamartine's energetic protest, in his "Memoires poli-
tiques," concerning any personal relations between him-
self and the specifically mentioned "National" and
"Reforme." carry conviction.2 We have the authority
of so conscientious an historian as M. Thureau-Dangin,
late perpetual secretary of the French Academy, and
whose monumental work on the July Monarchy has been
frequently cited in these pages, for the following anecdote.
Describing the incident (which will be dealt with in
detail in its place) M. Thureau-Dangin asserts that one
of his interlocutors, M. Bocage, an actor at the Odeon
Theatre, "went to Lamartine a few hours before the
crisis, and in the name of his friends of the 'Reforme'
said to him : ' Help us to make the Republic, and we will
give you the first place.' The bargain, as proposed, was

1 Memoires politiques, vol. n, p. 159.

2 Cf. op. ciL, vol. 11, pp. 163-72.

• • 215 • •

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

accepted."1 M. Duvergier de Hauranne, in his unpub-
lished memoirs, vouches for the accuracy of this assertion.
There would consequently appear to exist a reasonable
foundation for the belief that Lamartine, accurately in-
formed as to the true situation, had made his decision
before he attended the session in the Palais Bourbon.2

1 Histoire de la monarchie de Juillet, vol. vn, p. 505. M. Thureau-
Dangin died in 1913.

2 "II se jette et jette avec lui son pays dans cet inconnu formidable,"
says M. Thureau-Dangin, " moins en tribune factieux qu'en acteur curieux
d 'un r61e tragique, sans conviction serieuse, mais sans hesitation, sans pas-
sion profonde, mais sans remords, sans haine, mais sans pitie." Op. cit.,
vol. vii, p. 505.

CHAPTER XLI

THE PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT

At half-past ten on the morning of February 24, 1848,
while still confined to his bed, Lamartine was roused by
the hasty entrance of a friend who informed him that the
invasion of the Chamber of Deputies by the populace
was imminent. Although he doubted the possibility of
such an outrage, he immediately prepared to stand by his
colleagues in the hour of peril. "La popularity d'estime
dont il jouissait dans la Chambre et au dehors," he wrote,
"pouvait rendre sa presence utile et son intervention
protectrice pour la vie des citoyens ou des deputes."1
This would appear an admission of preparedness; al-
though he immediately adds that he then believed the
political issues settled and the crisis averted — a state-
ment susceptible to doubt in view of his recent negotia-
tions with the actor Bocage.2 On his arrival at the
Palais Bourbon, Lamartine relates that he exchanged a
few words with General Perrot, who was unaware of the
flight of the King, and he conveys the impression that he
was at this moment himself in ignorance of this capital
event, and that he entered the building reassured as to
the fate in store for his colleagues. And yet those who
were awaiting him in the vestibule were fully acquainted
with the drama just enacted, and alive to the perils as
well as the possibilities of the political situation. It was
high noon when Louis-Philippe left the Tuileries and
started on the road to exile: 1.10 by the clock when the

1 Memoires politiques, vol. n, p. 160.

2 Daniel Stern {op. tit., vol. I, p. 225) asserts that negotiations were in
progress for three days between Lamartine and the committees of the
"National" and the "Reforme"; i.e., February 21, 22, and 23.

• • 217 • •

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

mob invaded the Palace.1 By noon the deputies began
to assemble in the Chamber; at one o'clock M. Sauzet,
in spite of the absence of the Ministry, yielded to pressure
and opened the session.2 Shortly before, M. Thiers had
arrived and confirmed the rumours of the flight of the
King, stating at the same time that he feared it was too
late to save the regency, that the soldiery would be power-
less to prevent the invasion of the Chambers ; after which
he left and was seen no more. But, although no member
of the Government appeared, the republican leaders were
already present, mostly journalists from the offices of the
"National."

Up to noon there had been few whose ambitions went
further than the abdication of the King ; but later there
was talk of a republic. Even before the flight of Louis-
Philippe was generally known, the politicians assembled
had agreed that a Provisional Government was impera-
tive, and a list of members had been prepared.3 The
names mentioned did not include that of Lamartine, it is
true, but the other members of the Government, as
eventually constituted, were inscribed on the list pre-
pared in the offices of the "National" before the session
opened. If the name of Lamartine was absent from the
original list of the "National," there can be but one ex-
planation, and that is the uncertainty as to the result of
the mission undertaken on behalf of the "Reforme" by
M. Bocage.4 It is comprehensible that Lamartine, before
irremediably compromising his political future, was
anxious to reconnoitre personally the currents of public
opinion which his indisposition had prevented him from
fathoming otherwise than by hearsay. It is safe also to
assume that if a bargain had been made with M. Bocage,

1 Maxime du Camp, Souvenirs, p. 94.

2 Thureau-Dangin, op. cit., vol. vn, p. 503.

* Ibid., p. 504. * Cf. Daniel Stern, op. cit., vol. I, p. 225.

• • 2l8 • •

THE PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT

it had been a conditional one, subject to the temper he
might note when face to face with the realities of the
situation. If we may credit Lamartine's account of the
proceedings, the President had not yet declared the ses-
sion open when he arrived. This would consequently
indicate between half-past twelve and one o'clock as
the hour when the confabulation with the emissaries of
the "National" and "Reforme" took place.1 Lamartine
does not name the spokesman who on behalf of those
present addressed him at the secret meeting, which was
held in a remote committee-room ; but it is probable that
the speech he puts into the mouth of a single individual
was in reality a synopsis of the arguments advanced by
Hetzel, Bocage, Bastide, and Marrast, amongst others
present.2

Contrasted with the very decided opinions expressed in
the offices of the newspapers above mentioned, the some-
what tentative language used in explaining their case to
Lamartine is surprising. "Does he believe France ripe
for a republican regime?" they ask; "or would the Re-
gency appear in his eyes a useful preparation for the
more democratic system to follow in due course? " Should
he become a minister in the transitory government, they
assure him of their loyal support. In fact, to Lamartine
they would appear to confide the solution of the crisis,
expressing their willingness to follow his lead unreserv-
edly. At the same time they make no concealment of
their frankly republican principles, which, they assure
him, will ever be the object of their every action and
endeavour. Decided as they may be to adjourn decisive
action should the interests of their country demand it,
it must be distinctly understood that forbearance on their

1 Memoires politiques, p. 164. Leonard Gallois (op. cit., vol. 1, p. 83) states
that the session was opened at 12.30 P.M.

2 Cf. P. Quentin-Bauchart, Lamartine homme politique, p. 143; cf.
Daniel Stern, op. cit., vol. I, p. 226.

• • 219 • •

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

part will be only temporary, and that the Regency can
be considered only as the stepping-stone to the Republic.
" You are in our eyes the man of the situation. What you
decide shall be done. The republican party gives itself
unreservedly to you. We are ready to undertake formally
to place you at the head of the revolution which surges
against the doors of this Chamber, to support you with
our votes, our newspapers, our secret societies, with the
disciplined forces we control among the people. Your
cause shall be our cause. Minister of the Regency in the
eyes of France and Europe, you will be for us the Min-
ister of the real Republic."1 Covering his eyes with his
hands, Lamartine demanded a few moments' reflection
to consider the terrible responsibilities which confronted
him. When at length he spoke, it was to pronounce
against the Regency and in favour of the Republic. Dis-
claiming the desire to force any special form of govern-
ment upon the people, he nevertheless recognizes the
futility, in the face of existing circumstances, of a Re-
gency which could be but the mask disguising the more
democratic system. Foreseeing one of the greatest social
and political crises France had been called upon to con-
tend with, Lamartine discerns salvation through the
people alone. And by this he means a republic which shall
embrace the interests of all classes: a government of the
people which shall save the people from the horrors of
anarchy, civil war, and foreign intervention. There must
be no half measures: a Regency could only mean a com-
promise. For these reasons he told his hearers that he
decided definitely for the Republic.

In his "History of the Revolution of 1848," M. Gamier
Pages asserts that it was then and there agreed that
Lamartine should himself bring forward the motion for
the immediate establishment of a Provisional Govern-

1 Lamartine, Mcmoires politiques, vol. II, p. 165.
• • 220 • •

LAMARTIXE IN 1848
From an engraving by Pelee after the lithograph from life by Alaurin, May 184.8

THE PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT

ment, but that nothing was said as to the composition of
such a government.1 Meanwhile, in another committee-
room, a similar conclave was assembled under the leader-
ship of a youthful republican, M. Arago, with the object
of persuading M. Odilon Barrot to accept their pro-
gramme.2 In his capacity of Minister, however, and de-
spite the fact that, strictly speaking, since the abdication
and flight of the King, he was responsible to no legally
constituted authority, M. Barrot very rightly refused
to consider any premeditated action until Parliament
should have had an opportunity of dealing with the crisis.
Lamartine had hardly entered the Chamber before
the Duchess of Orleans appeared, leading her two sons
by the hand, and accompanied by a vociferating, al-
though not entirely hostile, mob. On the entrance of
the Duchess the Assembly rose to its feet, amidst cries
of "Vive la duchesse d'Orleans!" "Vive le comte de
Paris!" "ViveleRoi!" " Vive la Regente ! " 3 M. Dupin,
who had accompanied the Duchess from the Tuileries,
mounted the rostrum, and, announcing the abdication of
Louis- Philippe, proclaimed the Regency. But Lamartine,
rising in his seat, demanded that the session be suspended
owing to the presence of the Duchess in the midst of the
national representatives, whose liberty of deliberation
would be impaired by this untoward situation.4 The
Duchess refusing to leave the Chamber, a heated dis-
cussion arose, during which the President, M. Sauzet,
actually suspended the session. No heed was taken, how-
ever, of the President's action, for the crowd was pressing
at the doors in ever-increasing numbers, while various

1 Op. cit., vol. ii, p. 197.

2 Cf. Thureau-Dangin, op. cit., vol. vn, p. 509. 3 Ibid., p. 506.

4 Lamartine, op. cit., vol. II, p. 182; cf. also Dr. Veron, Memoires d'un
bourgeois de Paris, vol. iv, p. 294, and Von Schubert's Life and Letters of
the Duchesse d'Orleans (published in 1859). Schubert affirms that the
Duchess made several attempts to speak, but that her voice was drowned
in the tumult. Op. cit., p. 214.

• • 221 • •

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

orators struggled to reach the rostrum. In vain, however,
did the Duchess herself attempt to urge the rights of her
son; in vain did M. Barrot essay to calm the tumult,
naively threatening to resign should his advice not be
accepted; in vain did M. de la Rochejacquelein warn his
colleagues that they no longer possessed any legal stand-
ing, and that an appeal to the Nation must be made.
Pandemonium reigned supreme, for the mob had forced
the doors, and a vast medley of armed men, National
Guards, workmen, and students waving flags and guns,
burst into the Chamber to the cries of "Down with the
Regency!" "Banishment!"

Lord Normanby, while recognizing M. Barrot's influ-
ence, believes that at this moment his advent was inaus-
picious, inasmuch as it brought into hostile action the
master-spirit of the moment. "All the witnesses of the
scene," he writes, "with whom I have spoken, concur in
this, that M. Lamartine had hitherto buried his face in
his hands, as if absorbed in meditation as to the course
he should pursue, but as M. Odilon Barrot slowly as-
cended the tribune, he threw back his head, gazed fixedly
upon him, and his whole attitude was that of defiance
and opposition. I am far from asserting that his first
feeling was, if the Regency is adopted, there stands
its counsellor and director, but there is something in
M. Odilon Barrot's deportment, and a certain air of con-
scious integrity blended with superior wisdom, which
was likely to be peculiarly irritating to M. Lamartine's
susceptibility. He had too much imagination, and, one
may add, too much expansive benevolence, where his
amour-propre is not affected, to be a very accurate analyst
of human weakness, but he must be aware that the dis-
position of all men's minds is to deny in others any com-
bination of eminent qualities — ready to allow to any
one only his specialite, as we say here; and that in admir-

. . 222 • •

THE PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT

ing him for his brilliancy as a poet and inspired writer,
every one was predisposed not to recognize in him a states-
man of practical wisdom or habits of business, and here
he found himself brought in contact with the man whose
assumption of those very qualities found ready belief
with all."1

A grain of truth is certainly contained in this analysis ;
yet we know that, although M. Barrot's personality and
his present attitude may have irritated Lamartine, the
latter's decision had been reached before the episode
which Lord Normanby describes, and that in consequence
M. Barrot's bearing could have had no direct influence
on the course followed. If Lamartine had entertained
jealous feelings towards M. Barrot in the past, he cer-
tainly had no reason to experience them during the
stormy session of February 24, 1848. Amidst this ter-
rific uproar Lamartine fought his way to the rostrum.
A thunder of applause greeted him. This ovation, writes
M. Thureau-Dangin, put heart into the partisans of the
Duchess, for they recalled the fact that in 1842 he had
been the advocate of a feminine regency.2 Alas! their
illusions were but short-lived. Lamartine has said that a
word for the Duchess would have swayed the Chamber
en masse, and through them the people, in her favour.
And, when reviewing the situation, he expresses the con-
viction that he had it in his power to reestablish the
Throne, and to lead the Duchess and her children tri-
umphantly back to the Tuileries.3 It is permissible to
doubt the accuracy of this assumption. None better than
Lamartine recognized that the monarchy was irretriev-
ably discredited in the eyes of the people, and although,
when reviewing the scene in later years, he might, for

1 Op. cit., vol. 1, p. 120. 2 Thureau-Dangin, op. at., vol. vn, p. 511.
1 Memoires politiques, vol. n, p. 183. Von Schubert {op. tit., p. 214)
passes over this incident in silence.

• • 223 • •

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

appearance' sake, endeavour to mitigate the seeming
brutality of his action, it is the poet, the man of tran-
scendental imagination, not the statesman, who wields
the pen. "In sacrificing his popularity for a temporary
expedient, foredoomed," writes M. de Vogue, "Lamar-
tine would have wasted the influence which arrested the
red flag and saved his country's honour."1

There was, in fact, little sentiment and considerable
common sense in the words he uttered on this memorable
occasion. Those who expected an outburst of lyrical elo-
quence, inspired by the dramatic aspect of the scene,
were doomed to disappointment, although his opening
words might seem favourable to the trembling mother,
encircling with her arms the orphans of the popular
Prince whose inheritance she claimed for her eldest born.
"Gentlemen," he began, "I share as much as any one
present the double sentiment which distracts this assem-
bly when viewing one of the most touching spectacles
which human annals can show, that of an august princess
defending herself and her innocent son, and flying from a
deserted palace to take shelter amid the people's repre-
sentatives."2 The ambiguity of sentiment expressed gave
rise to various demonstrations, some applauding, others
openly and menacingly expressing discontent. But the
speaker refused to allow himself to be diverted, and, slowly
repeating his initial remarks, proceeded with a fine rhetor-
ical expose of the situation which left little doubt in the
minds of his listeners as to the nature of the peroration
to follow. In truth the demands he made were perfectly
clear: a Provisional Government which should admin-
ister impartially the public business until such time as the
country, through its electorate, should decide on the

1 Heures d'histoire, p. 210.

* Cf. Moniteur, of February 25, 1848. In his MSmoires Lamartine slightly
varies the phrase. Cf. vol. II, p. 204.

224

THE PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT

permanent form to be adopted. To this the orator at-
tempted to add certain recommendations concerning the
arrangements to be made for the preservation of public
order, but was interrupted by the arrival of the insurrec-
tionists led by Dunoyer — the same who had sacked
the Tuileries shortly before. It was no longer the mon-
archy these savages sought to destroy — that was an
accomplished fact: their wrath was directed against the
deputies themselves. As they broke down the doors and
rushed into the hemicycle, it was with curses and yells of
11 Down with the Chamber! " " Death to the corrupt depu-
ties!"

Lamartine calmly stood his ground, and did not flinch
even when a ragged reprobate deliberately aimed his
musket at him. Seeing the gesture, however, Sergeant
Duvillard caught the arm of the would-be murderer,
turning the weapon aside. "If he kills me, I die at my
post," quietly remarked Lamartine. But terror seized
upon the Assembly, and a general sauve qui pent fol-
lowed. Carried along with the throng, the Duchess of
Orleans and her children were swept out of the Chamber.
The President, M. Sauzet, was unceremoniously hustled
out with the rest; but Lamartine and about twenty of
the members of the Left remained at their posts. Ever
more boisterous grew the mob, clamouring now for the
proclamation of the Provisional Government; in other
words, the Republic. Calls for Lamartine echoed through
the hall when M. Dupont de l'Eure, who had been pushed
into the vacant presidential chair, attempted to read the
list of names proposed for membership in the Govern-
ment. Taking the paper from the old man's hands,
Lamartine stepped forward, and in a ringing voice stated
that in obedience to the will of the people a Provisional
Government would be proclaimed. Then followed the
reading of the names submitted for approval. M. Dupont

• • 225 • •

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

de l'Eure, Lamartine, Arago, Cremieux, Ledru-Rollin,
Marie, appeared to meet the wishes of the mob; but the
confusion was so great that any unanimous acceptance
was impossible.1 AsM. Thureau-Dangin justly remarks:
"In the Palais Bourbon a Parliament no longer existed:
it was but a club, and what a club!"2 To put an end to
the tumult Bocage continued shouting: "A l'Hotel de
Ville! Lamartine en tete!" And finally this course was
adopted, Lamartine and Dupont de l'Eure proceeding
in triumph through the crowded streets.

Lamartine asserts that his friends wished to install the
Government in the official residence of the President of
the Chamber, but that he insisted on proceeding to the
Hotel de Ville. His reasons for so doing were that he
recognized the fact that any government taking its seat
elsewhere than in the general quarters of the revolution
would be attacked and ousted by the counter-revolution-
ists during the night, and that a bloody civil strife must
ensue.3 Meanwhile, an attempt was made to wreck the
Chamber, and the portrait of Louis-Philippe was riddled
with bullets. It was four o'clock: the session, if session it
can be called, had lasted over two and a half hours. A
handful of republican journalists, aided by an irrespon-
sible, undisciplined mob, had overturned a government
which had been established by popular acclamation
eighteen years before. The catastrophe seemed incredible
to thinking men. Lord Normanby, amongst others, stood
aghast at the suddenness of the storm and the magnitude
of the havoc. "One cannot believe," he wrote in his
"Journal" on the evening of this eventful day, — "one
cannot believe that a great nation like this can really sub-
mit permanently to the dictation of a few low dema-

1 Lamartine mentions the name of Garnier-Pages on this list, but other
authorities affirm that this name, as well as that of Ledru-Rollin, was added
to a supplementary list, proclaimed after Lamartine had left the Chamber.

1 Op. cit., vol. vii, p. 513. 5 Memoires politiques, vol. 11, p. 215.

• • 226 • •

THE PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT

gogues, none of them, except Lamartine, of any personal
following, but hoisted into power by base desertion of
duty on the part of all the armed forces, and at the
pleasure of the very scum of the earth. In any other
country, at any other time, I should say there was sure
to be a reaction; but Louis-Philippe's reign has so com-
pletely demoralized public feeling, there is now nothing
to look to. Such is unfortunately the general opinion as
to the Revolution of July, that when the mob carried
away the throne from the Tuileries to-day, they said they
did so because he had stolen it."1

During these scenes, throughout the city the officers
in command of the regular troops impatiently waited for
orders which were not forthcoming. One after another
the regiments fraternized with the populace, either al-
lowed themselves to be disarmed, or, disbanding, joined
the crowds in proclaiming the Republic. M. Barrot,
after the invasion of the Chamber, sought refuge at the
Ministry of the Interior, and thence essayed a semblance
of government, instructing the different mayors to as-
semble the National Guard, and make a last effort in
favour of the Regency.2 These functionaries, however,
were inclined to recognize no other government than that
which had now been established at the Hotel de Ville,
with Lamartine at its head. Shortly after, M. Marie
arrived at the Ministry of Interior, and M. .Barrot, de-
clining to take part in the new Government, left him in
possession. Acting on the advice of M. Barrot, who had
joined her at the Invalides, the Duchess of Orleans, with
her children, decided to leave Paris for Germany. It may
be mentioned here, en passant, that Louis-Philippe and
the old Queen, after most trying experiences, travelling
by devious roads under the name of M. and Madame
Lebrun, finally embarked at Havre, on March 2, and

1 Op. cit., vol. 1, p. 96. 2 Thureau-Dangin, op. cit., vol. vn, p. 519.

. . 227 • •

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

safely reached England the next day. There they were
ultimately joined by all the members of the royal family,
whose adventures during their flight had been more or
less exciting and painful.

On foot, escorted by eight or ten National Guards and
a handful of deputies, Lamartine set out for the Hotel
de Ville. An ever-increasing crowd of men, women, and
children, mostly armed, and all loudly vociferating, sur-
rounded and followed him. The anguish of uncertainty
weighed heavily upon the statesman, who felt that he
risked not only life, but reputation, in the venture. What
was this farcical election, carried out by a howling mob
at the foot of a rostrum taken by storm and held by the
invading multitude? What could it be but usurpation?
The authority of those elected by this handful of un-
authorized voters must surely be contested by those who
had had no hand in the proceedings. All was as illegal
as the events at the Tuileries had been. They had no
shadow of a title to be considered as the members of a
duly constituted government, and were they challenged
to produce such they must lamentably acknowledge they
had none, beyond the right of an onlooker to interfere
in a street brawl; and they must be prepared to accept
the natural consequences of their rash act.1 All was uncer-
tainty. As far as Lamartine and his colleagues knew, the
King might be collecting his troops at Saint-Cloud, pre-
paratory to swooping down upon the rebel city and
wreaking dire vengeance on those who usurped his con-
stitutional prerogatives. Even now loyal regiments might
be surrounding the Duchess of Orleans, determined to
uphold the sacred rights of her son. Drunk with triumph,
maddened by the sight of the blood which reddened the
streets, the mob pressed on, taking little heed of what

1 Cf. Lamartine, Memoires politiques, vol. II, p. 224, who fully realized
the anomaly of his position.

• • 228 • •

THE PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT

might occur on the morrow, but determined to have its
hero proclaim the Republic, to-day, from the steps of the
People's Palace, the Hotel de Ville, the rallying place of
the revolutionary hordes from all quarters of Paris. As
the heterogeneous cortege surrounding Lamartine and
the octogenarian, Dupont de l'Eure, made its way along
the left bank of the Seine, regiments of the line could be
discerned marching on the opposite bank.1 A moment
later they passed the barracks of the dragoons on the
quai d'Orsay. These troops, still supposedly loyal to the
monarchy, on witnessing the arrival of the noisy proces-
sion, hastily closed the iron gates and sounded the call
to arms. Without a moment's hesitation, Lamartine,
who realized the peril of the situation and the massacre
which would ensue should the order to fire be given,
approached the railings and, feigning thirst, begged for
a glass of wine. Holding the cup high above his head,
and smiling to soldiers and mob alike, he cried : "Friends,
here is our banquet! Let the people and the soldiers
fraternize with me." The felicitous phrase, with its
reference to the primary object of the forbidden ban-
quet, was received with thundering applause. "Long live
Lamartine ! " "Vive Ie gouvernement provisoire ! " shouted
troopers and manifestants together, as hands grasped
hands through the iron railings. This was the first of the
happy phrases which Lamartine was to find so often dur-
ing the next weeks, and which in every instance turned
aside the anger and resentment he was forced to face.

The progress of the procession was hampered by the
barricades which bristled at frequent intervals, around
which lay the corpses of men and horses and the miscel-
laneous debris of the street-fighting which had taken
place during the morning. At the entrance to the Place
de Greve, opposite the Hotel de Ville, a perfect sea of

1 Daniel Stern, op. cit., vol. I, p. 238.
• • 229 • •

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

human beings blocked the way. As yet the news of the
formation of a Provisional Government at the Palais
Bourbon had not reached this quarter. Besides, the
Hotel de Ville was supposed to be in the hands of agita-
tors who were even then occupied in squabbling for lead-
ership. The cries of "Make place for the Government!"
made but little impression on the compact multitude,
which was, in fact, rather inclined to be hostile to those
assuming an authority they had not bestowed. The
names of Dupont de l'Eure and of Arago saved the
situation, the former especially being well known and
venerated by all classes of society. The position of the
members of the new Government proclaimed in the
Chamber was, indeed, critical. From every window,
from every balcony, from the roofs of surrounding build-
ings, demagogues and political orators of every shade of
opinion, delegates from the secret societies, socialists
and anarchists, were haranguing the crowds, and scatter-
ing lists of governments they desired to form. Yet in all
the Babel of political mouthings, one word was univer-
sally echoed to the sky: "The Republic!" There could
be no question of doubt as to the form of government
desired by the vast multitude seething in the square
and through the passages and halls of the Hotel de Ville.
But the Moderates and the Reds were at loggerheads;
the dread of seeing the fruits of the revolution snatched
from them, as in 1830, and a restoration of the mon-
archy substituted for the Republic they had fought for,
caused a mutual mistrust, which might at any moment
provoke internecine strife of the most blood-curdling
nature. As Lamartine and the venerable Dupont slowly
elbowed their way among the menacing ruffians they
designed to govern, the repeated discharge of firearms
and the clanging of the tocsin-bells gave evidence of
the difficulties of the task they had assumed.

• • 230 • •

THE PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT

But all this bedlam was as nothing compared to the
wild confusion reigning within the spacious courtyard
and intricate corridors of the City Hall. Frantic with
joy over their recent triumph, the lowest scum of the
Parisian faubourgs awoke the echoes of the vaulted
passages with musket and pistol, to which din was
added the stamping and neighing of the panic-stricken
and abandoned mounts of Municipal Guards, the groans
of the dying and the shrieks of the wounded who writhed
untended upon the blood-stained flagging. Within the
building, as outside on the square, popular demagogues,
even liberated jail-birds, were spouting socialistic, or
rank communistic, doctrines, inciting the mob to violence
and pillage. How should such as these be brought to a
comprehension of the sober and orderly government it
was sought to establish? To these liberty and licence
were synonymous, and the strong arm of the law or of
military might could alone be relied upon to bring them
into subjection. But neither law nor the means of en-
forcing it now existed ; nor was the warrant held by this
little band of would-be peacemakers recognized by the
demented populace. Within the Hotel de Ville all sought
to rule, but none were willing to be governed. Mingled
with the communists who sought only a second Reign of
Terror were emissaries of the Bonapartists, while farther
on the friends of Lamennais urged his claims as member
of the Government.1 It was with this scene of pande-
monium that Lamartine, separated from his colleagues,
finally found himself confronted, as the surging torrent
of humanity bore him onward and upward. Wandering
blindly from room to room, himself haranguing the ex-
cited groups, exhorting them to calm and moderation,
Lamartine at length found himself again in the presence
of Dupont de l'Eure and the principal members of the
1 Cf. Stern, op. cit., vol. i, p. 242.
. . 231 • •

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

Government proclaimed in the Chamber. The room was
crowded to suffocation, but all attempts to clear it and
permit of any private deliberation between the members
of the Provisional Executive failed utterly; merely
served, in fact, to excite the suspicions of the mob, which
discerned in the desire a plan to defraud the people of its
claim to free and open discussion. The patriarch, Dupont
de l'Eure, being called upon to proclaim the names of
those elected by popular acclamation to replace tempo-
rarily the fallen Government, fainted when attempting
to address those present.1

Collective deliberation between the men charged with
the preservation of order was impossible. In despair they
saw the precious minutes slipping by, and trembled at
the horrors of the night in the defenceless city, deprived
of any directing power, with "three hundred thousand
armed men, maddened by the smell of powder,"2 quar-
relling amongst themselves and at war with organized
society. Yet not so much as a sheet of paper or writing
materials could be procured in order to throw from the
windows to the throng below some sign of authority,
some earnest that a government was in fact organized
and working for the public weal. Fortunately, an em-
ployee of the Prefecture, M. Flottard, came to the rescue,
whispering in Lamartine's ear that a small office in the
rear was still uninvaded by the crowd and that he had
the key in his pocket. There the hunted Government
found comparative peace and quiet, and instantly set
about the composition of a manifesto. Around the small
table in the narrow room sat Dupont de l'Eure, who pre-
sided ; at his elbow Lamartine, to whom was confided the
drafting of the proclamation to the people. Then came
Arago, Ledru-Rollin, Cr6mieux, Marie, and Garnier-

1 Stern, op. cit., vol. i, p. 248.

* Lamartine, Memoircs politiques, vol. n, p. 231.

232

THE PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT

Pages. The names of the two last had not, it is true, been
uncontested at the moment of the hasty constitution of
the Provisional Government in the Chamber, and some
objection was made to admitting them now. But Lamar-
tine urged the futility of discussing the validity of the
warrants they held at this critical moment, and convinced
his hearers that seven heads would be better than five
for the work they had before them.

Without further loss of time, he dashed off a manifesto
to the " People of France," informing them that "a retro-
grade and oligarchical Government had been overturned
by the heroism of the people of Paris; that this Gov-
ernment had fled, leaving behind it a trail of blood
which forever forbade its return." He continued that
"a Provisional Government" was temporarily instituted
"to organize and assure the national victory"; and called
upon the country to uphold their authority until such
time as a free and untrammelled electorate should decide
upon the definite Government.1 Although not strictly
true that the Government they represented was the re-
sult of "the votes of the deputies from the various de-
partments of France," this original draft was unhesitat-
ingly accepted by his colleagues and despatched to the
National Printing Office. It will be noticed that Lamar-
tine also affirms that the Government proclaims the
Republic. Hardly had the manifesto been given to the
printers, however, when a long and violent discussion was
engaged in by Pagnerre and Bixio, who had penetrated into
the council-room, and who strenuously denounced the
proclamation of the Republic as a usurpation of the rights
of the Nation ; a violation of the national sovereignty, which
had had no deliberative voice in the form of government.
The force of this argument being recognized, messengers
were despatched to bring back the original draft.

1 Cf. Quentin-Bauchart, op. cit., p. 159.
. . 233 • •

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

The discussion of the new wording had but just begun,
when Louis Blanc, accompanied by Albert,1 a journey-
man mechanic of considerable political influence, entered.
On the original list proposed in the offices of the "R6-
forme," Blanc's name had figured prominently; but
Lamartine had deliberately eliminated the name from
the lists proclaimed at the Palais Bourbon.2 Strong in his
popularity with the masses, Louis Blanc insisted on his
right to take part in the deliberations of the Government,
and when denied, on the ground that his name had not
been mentioned during the session, he threatened to
appeal to the people for justice.3 The risk of thus stirring
up discussion in the seething thousands who were clam-
ouring for the Republic beneath the very windows of the
council chamber induced the Government to hesitate;
and after considerable debate, Louis Blanc and Albert
were inscribed as secretaries. Lamartine in his "Me-
moires" omits this incident, merely mentioning that,
after having distributed the various departments of the
Government, secretaries were appointed in order to
attach all the live forces of popularity which might have
caused rivalry had they been excluded; adding that
Louis Blanc was too closely allied to the socialists to be
omitted with impunity from a popular government.4

Although at first the secretaries had consultative pow-
ers only, almost immediately they were granted delib-
erative rights in council. In the distribution of portfolios
which followed, Lamartine was unanimously accorded
the direction of Foreign Affairs, a position his diplo-
matic experience well qualified him to fill. Moreover, the

1 His real name was Martin. Cf. Stern, op. cit., vol. I, p. 252; also Victor
Pierre, Histoire de la republique de 1848, vol. 1, p. 53.

* Quentin-Bauchart, op. cit., p. 165.

1 Stern, op. cit., vol. I, p. 252; cf. also, Quentin-Bauchart, op. cit., p. 164,
and Louis Blanc, Histoire de la revolution de 1S48, vol. I, p. 74.

4 Memoires poliiiques, vol. 11, p. 237.

234

THE PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT

patriarch, Dupont de l'Eure, realizing that his advanced
age precluded all possibility of incessant labour on his
part, spontaneously named Lamartine as his substitute
in the presidential chair. To Arago was entrusted the
Navy; Cremieux "insinuated" himself into the Ministry
of Justice; while Ledru-Rollin, without waiting to be
selected, "insisted upon taking charge of" the Home
Office.1 M. Marie was given the Public Works, while
Gamier- Pages took over the important position of Prefect
of Paris. Strangely enough, the Provisional Government
did not hesitate to confide to outsiders such a capital
post as that of Minister of War, which, after having been
refused by Generals Lamoriciere and Bedeau, was eventu-
ally accepted by one of Napoleon's soldiers, General
Subervie, a man far beyond his prime, and without spe-
cial aptitude for the difficult role. He was Lamartine's
choice, and although he was not a success, his backer be-
lieved that, had he been retained in office, the Govern-
ment would have been better served.2 Lamartine, al-
though nominally in a subordinate position, was de facto
head of the Government which now attempted the admin-
istration of the seething city and of France. To Lord
Normanby he confided that he had declined the nominal
Presidency of the Government through fear of exciting
jealousies, and to the same diplomat he related that, as
he passed down the Boulevards, he had been followed by
a huge crowd shouting, "Vive Lamartine, premier Con-
sul!" Turning round, he cried: " I want nothing for my-
self; but what you seem to want for me is that I be shot
to-night."3

1 Cf. £lias Regnault, Histoire du gouvernement provisoire, p. 72. M.
Regnault was chief secretary in the Ministry of the Interior. His history
is not wholly impartial, but valuable to the student.

2 Cf. Lamartine, op. tit., vol. n, p. 236.

3 Normanby, op. tit., vol. 1, p. 137; cf. also Stern, op. tit., vol. 11, p. 118,
who cites a conspiracy of Conservative Republicans to give the Presidency
to Lamartine.

. . 235 • •

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

By this time the news had been spread that the Pro-
visional Government was in session at the Hotel de Ville,
and the mayors of the various arrondissements began to
make offers of service; followed in turn by deputies, mil-
itary officers, members of the National Guard, politi-
cians, and hosts of citizens, who had only the safety or
order of the city at heart.

Meanwhile, the original manifesto of the Provisional
Government had been returned, and, after heated dis-
cussion, the phrase which had met with disapproval was
corrected to read that the Government "desired the
Republic subject to the ratification by the people, which
would be immediately consulted."1 Hastily struck off
on the national presses, this proclamation, followed by
another addressed to the generals, officers, and soldiers,
was thrown in thousands from the windows and balconies
of the Hotel de Ville, and distributed by messengers
throughout the city.

A beginning had been made; yet no illusions existed
as to the well-nigh insuperable difficulties which bristled
in the path this heterogeneous, ill-established, and un-
authoritative Government must tread. The very heart
of the ill-assorted Executive was divided. Little sym-
pathy, often open antagonism, existed between its mem-
bers, and opposing currents were discernible: from the
outset on one side Marrast, Arago, Marie, and Gar-
nier-Pages, the moderates, men who had been drawn
almost against their will into the vortex of the revolu-
tionary whirlpool they would fain have avoided; on the
other, Ledru-Rollin, Flocon, Louis Blanc, and his satel-
lite, Albert, Republicans, practically socialists, of the
most advanced types, eager to compromise their less
revolutionary colleagues in the eyes of the populace.
Between the two extremes Cremieux floated uncertainly,

1 Lamartine, Memoires poliliques, vol. n, p. 242.
• • 236 • •

THE PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT

now with, now against, his colleagues. As for Lamartine,
he stood apart, fascinated by the brilliant boldness of
Ledru-Rollin, yet dreading the consequences of his
reckless policy.1 As a matter of fact, the two journals
which had been so largely instrumental in forming the
Provisional Government, the "National" and the "Re-
forme," in reality dictated its earlier policy; fortunately,
with a commendable spirit of conciliation. Around the
Hotel de Ville the vast crowd still surged, beating upon
the walls of the edifice like the waves of the sea, and
threatening to submerge the sole vestige of power which
struggled to pacify the angry tumult.

As they sat in permanent session in that narrow upper
chamber, the members of the Provisional Government
received from hour to hour the most alarming reports.
Specially appointed commissaries were despatched in all
directions, carrying as sole credentials scraps of paper
bearing the signature of some member well known to the
people. To the Tuileries, menaced with flame and de-
struction, they sped, or to Versailles, from whence came
the rumour that the mob had decided to devastate this
relic of monarchical luxury; or to Neuilly, already half
consumed by fire. Others again were sent in all haste to
protect the railways, and urge the demolition of the hun-
dreds of barricades, which interrupted all circulation in
many of the thoroughfares and cut off the city from its
base of supplies. For three days Paris had been practi-
cally isolated, and the scarcity of food was beginning to
be seriously felt. This situation must be relieved at all
costs, for famine meant the spread of the anarchy which
was now only sporadic. To this end, consequently, the
Executive set itself with redoubled fervour. Writing on
the morning of the 26th, Lord Normanby pays a glowing
tribute to the men who had undertaken this seemingly

1 Cf. Regnault, op. tit., p. 8.
. . 237 • •

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

impossible task. "I really think," he notes, "that the
exertions of the Provisional Government during the last
four and twenty hours for the reestablishment of order
have been prodigious, such as, at any rate, show them to
be men of capacity, likely to exercise influence in the
country should they succeed in controlling the evil pas-
sions still afloat in a population, which finds itself in
arms owing to the unaccountable submission and con-
nivance of the troops."1 But these evil passions were as
yet far from being controlled. The "Reds" were becom-
ing more and more unmanageable, ever more prepos-
terous in their demands, ever more communistic in their
exactions.

One after another the members of the still only half-
recognized Government were called from their stormy
deliberations to argue and compromise with the angry
hordes which had invaded the Hotel de Ville, threaten-
ing life and property. Amongst the populace an ineradi-
cable impression prevailed that, as in 1830, the prompt
reestablishment of order must mean the reestablishment
of the monarchical system. That these grave and respect-
able men, one at least of them an aristocrat by birth
and training, were actually engaged in consolidating the
popular form of government, seemed an anomaly, and
as such a suspicious circumstance. The demand was
made that the suspected tyrants weaving their nefarious
schemes, wherein to enmesh the liberties won on the bar-
ricades, should be forced to deliberate only in the presence
of trusted delegates named by the people. Strange to
say, it was the mistrusted "aristocrat," Lamartine, who
exercised the greatest influence over the raging mob
clamouring for the licence he refused to grant. The
music of his voice, his dignified bearing, perhaps the dis-
tinction of his tall, spare figure, incarnating that very

1 Op. cit., vol. 1, p. 115.
• • 238 • •

THE PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT

aristocracy they reviled, were all attributes which went
to make up the irresistible charm of his personality, and
added to the magnetism he exercised. "Lamartine now
revealed himself an admirable popular orator," writes
M. Quentin-Bau chart. Often received with yells of defi-
ance, of scorn, and even death, he charmed the mob
with his eloquence, and caused their fury to give way to
enthusiasm, saving critical situations by felicitous phrases
which caught the popular fancy or tickled its sense of
humour.1 During the first night of their assumption of
office the Government was interrupted over and over
again by the incursions of the infuriated mob, which
threatened to pitch them from the windows and install
in their places blood-stained demagogues.

Seven times Lamartine had laid aside his pen, and, fol-
lowed by a few citizens, gone into the corridors, to the
landings, down to the steps of the Hotel de Ville, to urge
the demented mob to await the result of the delibera-
tions being carried on above. Each time, pushing aside
the threatening swords and daggers, the bayonets and
revolvers held close to his chest by the drunken wretches
who thirsted for revenge, welcomed by a volley of oaths
and imprecations, leaning from a window, clinging to a
balustrade, or hoisted on a rickety stool, he quieted the
clamour, forced applause, and even brought tears of
enthusiasm to the eyes of his hearers. Incredible as these
miracles seem, they are attested in the chronicles of a
dozen eye-witnesses, themselves dumbfounded by the
magic of his achievement. On this memorable night of
February 24, Lamartine for the seventh time had been
called to quell the ever-rising tide of revolt which beat
against the very door of the council-chamber. His
clothes torn and bedraggled, collarless, his face bathed
in sweat and begrimed with smoke and dust, he stag-

1 Lamartine homme politique, p. 169.
• • 239 • •

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

gered forth once more to face the howling mob which
loudly accused him as a traitor. " Death to Lamartine! "
shrieked the maddened fanatics. "Hang him on the
nearest lamp-post!" " Don't listen to his specious cajol-
eries!" "His head! His head! Give us his head !" cried
those nearest him, reaching out to seize their victim.
Impassive despite the imminence of his peril, looking
down from the steps upon the blood-thirsty ruffians,
Lamartine calmly retorted: "My head, citizens! It is
my head you want? Would to God you had it on your
own shoulders at this moment ! You would be more calm
and wise, and the business of your revolution would be
better done." Shouts of boisterous laughter followed
upon this happy speech. The very hands that had sought
to deal the death-blow were now extended in friendly
grasp. Shaking off the men who still held him by the
collar, and withering a young man who had twitted him
with being nought but an harmonious windbag, unfit to
lead the people, he went forth alone among the ten thou-
sand armed men thronging the square, and aroused them
to enthusiasm and renewed confidence in the honesty of
purpose of the devoted citizens struggling for the main-
tenance of public liberties.

This was but one instance in a hundred of the fascina-
tion, the domination, he exercised over the uneducated
minds of the rioters to whom political agitation was a
mere pretext for plunder and bloodshed. The evening
of the 24th, the whole of the 25th and 26th of February,
together with the greater part of the night, were passed
in this perpetual struggle of one man against the mob.
"La plus grande gloire dans les premiers jours de la
Revolution appartient incontestablement a M. Lamar-
tine," wrote a functionary of the Provisional Govern-
ment.1 "C'est lui qui, sans autres auxiliaires que le

1 M. £lias Regnault, Chief of Cabinet of the Ministry of the Interior.
• • 240 • •

THE PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT

courage et le genie de l'eloquence, a fait sortir l'ordre d'un
epouvantable chaos. Seul contre des flots armes, il les
apaise de la voix et du geste . . . renouvelant, heure par
heure, tous les miracles d'Orphee." But M. Regnault
tells us that Lamartine did not present himself humbly
and as a supplicant, but proudly and imperiously, dom-
inating by his voice the clash of arms, the roars of anger,
and disarming with a glance those who sought his life
with gun or hatchet; subjugating the bestial passions of
the mob by the force of his incomparable eloquence
alone.1 It was the clash of moral courage against passion,
of intellectual strength against brutal force. That his
physical strength withstood the tremendous strain seems
incomprehensible, especially when we recall that the
effort was prolonged during three long months.

Although no two opinions could exist as to the magnifi-
cent results of his conduct when facing the seditious mul-
titudes, Lamartine's actions within the council-chamber
were variously interpreted. ",M. Lamartine, dans les
luttes de la place publique, fut heroique et sublime,"
asserts M. Regnault; "M. Lamartine, dans les luttes
int6rieures du gouvernement provisoire, fut faible et
equivoque."2 This criticism is not devoid of truth. The
weakness we have so frequently had occasion to observe
in the man became more noticeable in the statesman on
whose shoulders lay the terrific responsibilities he had
perhaps somewhat lightly assumed. Much as he loved to
think himself so, Lamartine was not a man of action in
the broadest sense of the term. His position in the Pro-
visional Government was much the same as that he had
occupied in the earlier years of his parliamentary career.
He was the balance-wheel of conflicting party and popu-
lar interests: the diplomatist seeking to conciliate irrec-
oncilable forces. Although this was undoubtedly the

1 Histoire du gouvernement provisoire, p. 130. 2 Op. cit., p. 132.

. . 241 • •

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

case in the majority of the incidents which arose during
those troublous times, here and there we have striking
proof that no pressure could break down his opposition
where his principles or deep-rooted convictions were at
stake.

Nowhere is this more apparent than in his determined
and unyielding refusal to accept the red flag which the
socialists were equally determined to impose upon the
Government and France. Besieged in the Hotel de Ville,
on February 25, by a threatening multitude insisting on
the adoption of this banner as the symbol of their victory
in the face of the world, the Government was divided as
to the course it should pursue. Almost alone Lamartine
energetically protested against an undignified and peril-
ous concession to the basest popular instincts, which
must inevitably discredit the Revolution in the eyes of
the civilized world. The hour was, indeed, one of ex-
tremest peril. Beneath the windows a ragged crowd,
barefooted, hungry, and mad with drink. To add to the
fury of the populace, half-naked men, their torn shirts
stained with blood, pushed their way through the mob,
carrying corpses from the outlying districts, which they
laid in the corridors of the Hotel de Ville, outside the
council-chamber. "Les morts nous submergent," cried
Dr. Samson to Lamartine, as he faced this ghastly dis-
play of the "people's dead," to which were added the
carcases of horses, dragged in from the streets. Amidst
these scenes of carnage, his ears ringing with the wild
shrieks of the frenzied multitude, clamouring for more
blood and fresh victims, Lamartine, leaving his still-
hesitating colleagues, descended alone to face the turmoil,
undismayed by the rage and fury depicted in the sea of
faces which glowered upwards. Mounted on a rickety
straw-bottomed chair, he sketched in outline the glorious
victories of this so rapid and complete revolution, flat-

• • 242 • •

THE PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT

tering his hearers with frequent reference to the wise
moderation they had shown in the hour of triumph, and
urging them not to give rise to a misinterpretation of
their aims and objects by seeming to desire the substitu-
tion of a revolution of vengeance and reprisals to a revo-
lution "actuated by sentiments of fraternity and con-
cord." "As for me," he unflinchingly shouted, "never
will my hand sign this decree you seek. Until death
overtakes me I will refuse to accept this banner of
blood. And you ought to repudiate it just as emphati-
cally as I do," he added, "for this red flag which you
bring to us has only made the rounds of the Champ-de-
Mars, dragged in the blood of the people in '91 and in '93,
while the tricolour flag of France has been round the
world, inscribed with the name of our country, our glory,
and liberty."1

Here no middle course was possible ; nor did Lamartine
seek one : his attitude in face of a terrible danger — not
only a personal danger, but a peril involving the exist-
ence of the political regime he represented — was inflex-
ible. He would move neither to the right nor to the left:
at the cost of life itself there must be no compromise
with the mob on this vital issue. Not once, but again
and again, as one frenzied mob gave place to another,
brandishing their weapons in his face, he reiterated his
determination to fall where he stood rather than be a
party to this truckling to the baser instincts of the popu-
lace. As group succeeded group, pressing up to hear his
words, he explained, as he noted the increasing calm,
the necessity of allowing the Government time to estab-
lish on a firm basis, at home and abroad, the Republic
purchased at the cost of the people's blood. "I spoke
to you as a citizen just now," he told them; "now listen
to me in my quality as your Minister for Foreign Affairs.

1 Memoires politiques, vol. II, p. 373.
• • 243 • • '

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

If you take from me the tricolour flag, remember that
you deprive France of half her strength abroad! For
Europe recognizes only the flag which has waved over
her defeats and your victories: the flag of the Republic
and of the Empire. Should Europe witness the adoption
of the red banner, she would consider it but the symbol
of a faction. It is the flag of France, the banner of our
victorious armies, the symbol of our recent triumphs,
which we must hoist in the face of Europe. France and
the tricolour flag stand for the same ideals, the same pres-
tige, the same warning, should necessity arise, to our
enemies."1 In his interesting "Souvenirs" M. C. de
Freycinet, at that time a pupil at the "Ecole polytech-
nique," and an aide-de-camp of Lamartine's, gives a
somewhat different version of the orator's condemnation
of the red flag. Substantially the scene is the same; but
young De Freycinet, who stood at his chief's side, insists
that Lamartine, when enumerating the glories of the tri-
colour and the ignominy of the crimson emblem, added:
"Vous le repousserez tous avec moi."2 To which the
crowd gave grudging adherence.

Lamartine himself attributed his success in averting the
peril of the red flag less to his personal eloquence than
to the action of a wounded beggar, who, covering the
speaker with his frail body, besought the Terrorists to
hearken to their saviour, and remained at his side during
the long ordeal.3 This incident may or may not have
taken place under the circumstances so lyrically de-
scribed in the "Memoires politiques"; the details are
immaterial. But the fact remains, and is acknowledged
by Lamartine's most persistent detractors, that his daunt-
less physical courage was displayed a hundred times dur-

1 Memoires politiques, vol. n, p. 380.

2 Op. cit., vol. 1, p. 24. M. de Freycinet has recently (1915), in conver-
sation with the author, confirmed the accuracy of his version. ,

_ • Op. cit., vol. 11, p. 376.

' ' 244 • •

THE PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT

ing this perilous period. Nor is it fair to probe too deeply
the psychological promptings which actuated the author
of the "Histoire des Girondins" at this crisis, as some
critics have shown a disposition to do.1 There was no
play-acting here: no recital of lines borrowed from the
heroes of the drama he had so lyrically transmogrified
in the "Girondins." It was the level-headed statesman
giving utterance to sound common sense who saved the
Republic in this hour of peril ; but it is the poet who de-
scribes the incident, alleging that Lamartine owed his
life, and France her flag, to the blood-stained beggar
clinging to the knees of the orator as he faced the Terror-
ists on February 25, 1848. Perhaps Louis Blanc also de-
serves a share in the successful issue. Mounted on a
table, not far distant from Lamartine, this trusted cham-
pion of the people proclaimed over and over again, "Le
gouvernement provisoire veut la R6publique"; and the
people responded enthusiastically to the announcement.2
Perhaps again the enormous sheet displayed by a band
of workmen from a window of the Hotel de Ville had con-
tributed to pacify the excited multitude; for on that
sheet was traced in charcoal letters, "La Republique une
et indivisible est proclamee en France."3 But, be all this
as it may, few will question the heroism of the part
played by Lamartine, not only on the public square, but
in the heart of the Government, where Louis Blanc
favoured the adoption of the sanguinary banner.4

Opinions may differ as to the importance of Lamar-
tine's victory over the extremist elements hidden in the
bosom of the Government or frankly proclaimed by the
mob; but in the stolid world of the bourgeoisie nothing
could have inspired greater confidence than his coura-

1 Deschanel, op. cit., vol. n, p. 226; contra, Doumic, op. cit., p. 98; Dr.
Veron, Memoir es d'un Bourgeois de Paris, vol. iv, p. 317.

8 Cf. Quentin-Bauchart, op. ciL, p. 173. 8 Blanc, op. cit., vol. 1, p. 83.
4 Cf. Stern, op. cit., vol. I, p. 296; also Quentin-Bauchart, op. cit., p. 196.

• • 245 • •

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

geous action. As Sainte-Beuve noted at the time: "The
very people who yesterday, on account of his 'Girondins'
and his speeches at Macon, were ready to stone Lamar-
tine, to-day raise altars in his honour. But on such altars
should be inscribed: 'Elev6 par la Reconnaissance et
par la Peur.'" If Sainte-Beuve, as has been said, de-
tected the Lamartine of the barricades in the Mirabeau
and Vergniaud of the "Girondins," others, going still
farther back, now sought to discern, in his speech on his
reception in the French Academy (April, 1829), the
Lamartine of the Provisional Government.1

Far-fetched as such hypotheses may be in detail, they
go to substantiate the claim that Lamartine was thor-
oughly consistent in the line of policies he pursued from
the threshold of his entrance into public life.

1 Portraits contemporains, vol. I, p. 376. Saint-Priest, cited by Sainte-
Beuve, op. cit., p. 379; cf. also De Tocqueville, speech of January 27, 1848.

CHAPTER XLII
MINISTER FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS

Writing on February 27, Lord Normanby asserts that
the ascendancy of Lamartine was then confirmed, and
pays a glowing tribute to his victorious action when re-
jecting the red flag. Referring to the general conduct of
affairs by the men constituting the Government, the
English Ambassador adds: "Making allowance for the
difficulties of their position, I think many of the ordi-
nances published by the Government during these last
eight-and-forty hours do great credit to their political
capacities."1 Moreover, the diplomat expresses the belief
that any National Assembly elected at that moment
would confirm Lamartine at the head of affairs ; and that,
should such a course be adopted, its effect must be bene-
ficial to France.

Next day (February 28) Lord Normanby wrote: "This
morning at eight o'clock I received my first communi-
cation from home since the revolution, and between nine
and ten made an unofficial visit to M. de Lamartine at
his private residence. I explained to M. de Lamartine
that my functions as ambassador having ceased with the
abdication of the King to whom I was accredited, I could
not present myself to him in that character, nor could I
in any respect commit my Government for the future by
anything I might then say; but that I could not help
taking the earliest opportunity, when I could hope to
find him disengaged, of assuring him I felt convinced Her
Majesty's Government must, with myself, appreciate
the immense services he had rendered to his country, to

1 Op. cit., vol. 1, p. 128.
• • 247 • •

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

the cause of order, and the interests of civilization within
the last few days. That this was to be understood as only
giving my individual opinion, but that I knew that our
rule always was to recognize any form of government
which seemed to promise permanency, which maintained
security within, and gave no wanton cause of offence to
its neighbours. The personal intimacy which had once
subsisted between M. de Lamartine and myself induced
him to receive this opening on my part with the utmost
cordiality, and he placed me at once on the terms of the
most unmeasured confidence, and stated he would have
no secret of any kind from me ; that his first desire was to
complete development of the English alliance, that all his
efforts should be directed to that object, and that in
doing so he felt assured he was promoting the only true
interests of France."1

After outlining with some care the foreign policy which
the Government desired to follow, Lamartine allowed
himself to be drawn out concerning recent events. "His
description of the first sixty hours after the departure
from the Chamber of Deputies revealed a state of things,
I believe, unparalleled in any former history," continues
Normanby. "M. Dupont de l'Eure, who had assisted at
the scenes of the Convention, said that they had over-
come greater dangers and difficulties in that short space
of time than had marked its whole duration (September
20, 1792 to October 26, 1795); f°r during those sixty
hours they were in the presence of an infuriated rabble,
half drunk, and almost all armed. Nearly sixty thousand
people filled the Place de Greve and its environs, in whose
hands were twelve thousand muskets that had been taken
from Vincennes before the Commissary had arrived there
to save them. I saw on M. Lamartine's cheek the scratch
which a bayonet had left when he had first proposed the
1 Op. cit., vol. 1, p. 132.
• • 248 • •

MINISTER FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS

abolition of the punishment of death in political cases,
and had added: 'Why, if Louis-Philippe were here, no one
would harm the poor old man.' This excited their fury,
and swords and bayonets were pointed against his person.
He said, ' Yes, begin with me if you must have a victim.
Butchers! do you think you represent France?' and, seiz-
ing a moment of hesitation on their part, he shamed them
into calm in a few minutes, and within four-and-twenty
hours afterwards he had obtained the abolition of the
punishment of death for political offences with general
assent. I do not suppose in the history of the world that
there ever was such an instance of the triumph of a cou-
rageous mind inspired by noble sentiments over the brute
force of the masses."1

Surely no more magnificent tribute could be paid : nor
can its sincerity be doubted, for, although Lamartine
had every reason to propitiate the ambassador of a great
nation whose moral support he desired, Lord Normanby
could only be actuated by sentiments of personal admira-
tion. The importance Lamartine attached to a speedy
recognition by England was manifest in his closing re-
marks. When Lord Normanby took leave, saying that
he would not keep him longer from his affairs, Lamartine
replied, with emphasis: "Mon affaire c'est vous: all now
depends upon you. If England speedily puts in a shape
which can be made public what you have expressed to me
personally to-day, we are all saved here, and the founda-
tion of the most lasting and sincere alliance is established
between two great nations who ought always to be
friends."

1 Op. cit., vol. I, p. 135. In his Histoire de la revolution de 1848, Louis
Blanc draws attention to many inaccuracies in Lord Normanby's book.
But the value of his criticism is greatly impaired by the very apparent per-
sonal hostility he entertains towards the British Ambassador, whom he ac-
cuses of wilful prevarication and of inconceivable ignorance concerning
events taking place under his eyes. Cf. Preface, p. ii and iii; also pp. 52,
53. 7i 1 passim.

• • 249 • •

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

Lamartine personified the transition from monarchical
to republican principles; and to a degree incomprehen-
sible to-day, it was to him the nations of Europe looked
for the new interpretation of the diplomacy of the Holy
Alliance the victorious revolutionary party would surely
insist upon. The year 1848 marks a critical date in the
political and diplomatic history of the nineteenth cen-
tury. In Naples and in Rome the torch had been lighted,
but nowhere could the movement acquire the significance
it had in France, where the Bourbons had been sponsors
for the observance of the treaties of 181 5. The reaction
against those diplomatic obligations had been discernible
in France for several years past, and we have seen that
Lamartine considered them not only hampering but
humiliating, and, on occasion, had not hesitated to urge
the Ministry in power to shake off the fetters the con-
querors of Napoleon had imposed. It was only natural
to suppose that, as the head and guide of the diplomacy
of the new order, Lamartine would lose no time in declar-
ing null and void these hated restrictions to the develop-
ment of France's international policies; possibly at the
price of war. On the other hand, in view of the precarious
position of the Provisional Government, and the immi-
nence of the peril which must inevitably follow on a suc-
cessful anarchical uprising in France, was it not the
bounden duty of the Holy Alliance to take steps to
smother the flames before they reached across the fron-
tier? To Lamartine, and to the more cautious members
of the Provisional Government, the perils of the situa-
tion at home appeared hardly more menacing than that
of a foreign invasion.

If the Revolution of 1830 had, on the one hand, awak-
ened democracy throughout the whole of Europe, it had,
on the other hand, caused the occupants of the various
thrones to draw closer the bonds of mutual protection

• • 250 • •

MINISTER FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS

against the inroads of liberalism. But the eighteen years
of constitutional regime, unsatisfactory as they had been
in many respects, had fired those condemned to endure
the despotism of many of the petty Italian and German
sovereigns with the desire to emulate, if not surpass, the
political franchises enjoyed in France. The failure of
Louis-Philippe's Government to fulfil the pledges given,
and the ease with which the people of Paris had deposed
their sovereign and set up a government modelled on
political theories of the most advanced type, could but
incite to rebellion the malcontents across the Rhine and
south of the Alps. Latent discontents were suddenly
roused to action. Within a week Milan was up in arms
against the Austrian oppressor, and in due course the
conflagration spread over the Peninsula and across
Central Europe. The popular outburst and the event
which had caused it were so unexpected that the abso-
lutists were, as a matter of fact, unprepared for the shock.
But this could not be foreseen by the struggling Provi-
sional Government in France, and the grave apprehen-
sions of those responsible for the guidance of the foreign
policy of the new regime might be reasonably supposed
to be well founded. Consequently, it behooved Lamar-
tine to act at once with caution and firmness: with cau-
tion, because the triumph of the democratic principle in
France must inevitably arouse the jealous susceptibili-
ties of still powerful monarchical neighbours; with firm-
ness, because these neighbours must be made to realize
that France would brook no foreign interference with the
institutions she had adopted. The logic of this attitude
was war; but Lamartine and his colleagues desired to
avert such a contingency; at least, until the country had
been consulted and the national sanction had been given,
in legal form, to the Republic which the people of Paris
had proclaimed.

. . 251 • •

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

The task which lay before Lamartine was an arduous
one. As Minister for Foreign Affairs he had to speak to
monarchical Europe in the name of republican France.
It must be his endeavour to conciliate restless popula-
tions looking expectantly to the victorious democracy of
France, and sovereigns still having it in their power to
hamper the development of the liberties Frenchmen had
conquered with their blood. In other words, Lamartine's
was the impossible task of conciliating two irreconcilable
principles. In the circumstances a middle course alone
was open to him: to allay the impatience of an eager
foreign democracy and to reassure their rulers as to the
pacific intentions of France. To this end he brought to
bear all the artifices of his persuasive eloquence, and on
March 4, the "Moniteur" printed a circular letter ad-
dressed to the embassies and legations of France through-
out the world, which is, perhaps, unparalleled in the
annals of diplomatic history.

On February 2J, notifying the foreign diplomatists
accredited to the late French Court of his accession to
office, Lamartine had outlined the tenor of the "Mani-
festo" when he wrote: "The Republican form of the new
Government has changed neither the position occupied
by France in Europe, nor her loyal and sincere disposi-
tion to preserve her harmonious relations with the Pow-
ers which, with her, desire national independence and
universal peace. It will be a pleasure to me to contribute
by all the means in my power to this cordial pact of recip-
rocal dignity, and to make clear to Europe that the
principles of peace and liberty were born the same day
in France."1 Developing in his "Manifesto"2 this spirit
which animates the new Republic, Lamartine gives
utterance to a somewhat startling commingling of de-
fiant and conciliatory sentiments. "France is a Repub-

1 La France parlementaire, vol. v, p. 175. * March 5, 1848.

. . 252 • •

MINISTER FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS

lie," he states. "The French Republic does not need
recognition abroad in order to exist." Founded on nat-
ural and national rights, the Republic is the expression
of the will of a great people who seek no other title than
that which they themselves confer. Nevertheless, the
French Republic being desirous of entering the family of
constituted governments as a regular power, and not as
a disturbing phenomenon of European peace, Lamartine
instructs diplomatic agents abroad to make known
promptly to the courts to which they are accredited the
principles and tendencies which will henceforth guide the
foreign policy of the French Government. "The procla-
mation of the French Republic," he insists, "constitutes
an aggressive act against no form of government in the
world." All other forms are the expressions of the degree
of maturity of the genius of a people. The monarchical
and the republican principles are not, in the eyes of real
statesmen, diametrically antagonistic: they are con-
trasting facts capable of existing one in the face of the
other, understanding and respecting each other. War,
which became a fatal and glorious necessity in 1792, was
not a principle with the present Republic. The revolu-
tion of yesterday was a step in advance, not a step back-
wards; and its aim was brotherhood and peace. Then
follows an analysis of the psychological and philosophic
conditions which prevailed in France in 1792; the deduc-
tion being that at that period "liberty was a novelty,
equality a scandal, the Republic a problem." To-day
both thrones and peoples are accustomed to liberties and
social franchises which were then but little understood.
It will soon be recognized, he asserts, that there is such
a thing as conservative liberty, and that a Republic
offers greater scope for the government of all by all than
does a government by the few for the few. Nevertheless,
Lamartine especially cautions his agents that, although

. . 253 • •

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

the ideas he sets forth may be offered as guarantees of
peace, they must in no sense be construed as an apology
on the part of the Republic for the audacity of its birth ;
much less as humbly begging a place in the family of
European nations. The explanations he has given have
a more noble object: to cause the sovereigns and peoples
to reflect; to avoid an involuntary misrepresentation of
the character of the late revolution; in fine, to reassure
the world as to the humanitarianism of the movement
while at the same time warning all men that France is
prepared to uphold her rights. France will make war on
none, he again maintains, but the aim of the men who at
this moment govern France is the following: "France
will gladly accept the challenge should war be declared
upon her, and she be thus constrained, in spite of her
moderation, to add to her strength and glory! But the
responsibility of the Republic would be terrible should
she, without provocation, herself declare war."

In the eyes of the Holy Alliance the most startling as-
sertion Lamartine made was unquestionably the prag-
matic repudiation of the treaties of 1815: the rest might
be accepted as a more or less platonic theorem, or the
generalizations of a social and political philosophy, the
practical enactment of which was doubtful. Although
couched in diplomatic and conciliatory language, there
could be no mistake as to the determination of France to
throw off the fetters which had hampered her foreign
policy since the downfall of the conqueror who had set
his heel on Europe. "Les traites de 1815 n'existent plus
en droit aux yeux de la Republique francaise," Lamartine
insists; "toutefois, les circonscriptions territoriales de ces
traites sont un fait qu'elle admet comme base et comme
point de depart dans ses rapports avec les autres nations."
"Make it clear," he instructs his agents; "and have it
honestly accepted, that the Republic insists on emanci-

• • 254 • •

MINISTER FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS

pation from the treaties of 1815 ; and seek to demonstrate
that this frankness is not irreconcilable with the peace of
Europe."

As has been seen, this desire to abrogate the treaties of
181 5 had long been evident in parliamentary debates,
and Lamartine himself had not infrequently drawn atten-
tion to the continued humiliation their existence imposed
on France. That he should seize this unique opportunity
to repudiate these hateful obligations is only natural.
But he went a long step farther when he menaced Europe
with "the reconstruction of some oppressed nationalities
in Europe and elsewhere," and warned the sovereigns of
the Holy Alliance that the French Republic would feel
constrained to take up arms should any interference be
attempted with the democratic institutions of Switzer-
land, or the right be contested of the independent states
of Italy to join forces for the consolidation of an Italian
Nation. It became clear that while the Republic would
not wantonly attack monarchical institutions abroad, the
trend of her policy would be to proselytize by the light
of example, "by the spectacle of order and peace she
hoped to give the world."

Referring to the recent peril of war with England over
the Spanish marriages, Lamartine, in the name of the
Republic, unhesitatingly repudiates this "purely domes-
tic policy" of the deposed dynasty, thus seeking to pro-
pitiate public opinion in England and pave the way to
the alliance most essential in the present issue.1

"Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite," were the watchwords
of the Republic, he asserted in conclusion. "Le sens de
ces trois mots appliques a nos relations exterieures est
celui-ci: affranchissement de la France des chaines qui
pesaient sur son principe et sur sa dignite; recuperation
du rang qu'elle doit occuper au niveau des grandes puis-

1 Cf . also Evelyn Ashley, Life of Lord Palmerston, vol. 1, p. 68.
. . 255 • •

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

sances europeennes; enfin, declaration d'alliance et
d'amitie a tous les peuples. Si la France a la conscience
de sa part de mission liberate et civilisatrice dans le
siecle, il n'y a pas un de ces mots qui signifie 'guerre.'
Si l'Europe est prudente et juste, il n'y a pas un de ces
mots qui ne signifie 'paix.'"1

Opinions must necessarily differ as to the political
morality of the "Manifesto a l'Europe." "II disait ce
qu'on voulait, cet 61egant manifeste," is the opinion of
an eminent compatriot, M. de Mazade.2 To France he
offered the theoretic abrogation of the treaties of 1815,
and to Europe he guaranteed the respect of territorial
circumscriptions fixed by these same treaties. For those
who read between the lines it meant peace, a peace with-
out any sign of weakness, and as such Europe was forced
to accept it.

Lord Normanby's declaration, that the document par-
took more of the character of a report of a speech than
of the calmness of a state paper, is pertinent. And he
adds: "So many absurd expectations have already been
inevitably checked, that it may be necessary the public
impatience should be fed by high-sounding phrases. Yet,
whilst I am still in great admiration of his many rare
qualifications for the position he holds, I own I should
have had a more perfect confidence in his successfully
combating the complicated difficulties by which he is

1 On the publication of the "Manifesto" deputations from various
Masonic lodges went to the Hotel de Ville to congratulate the author on the
inclusion of the words, "Liberte, figalite, Fraternit6." To these Lamartine
replied that although the peculiar language they spoke was unknown to
him, as he was not a Freemason, yet he knew enough of Masonry to be
convinced that to the lodges they owed the "sublime explosion" of 1790,
of which the people of Paris had just given a re-edition. Cf. Trois mois de
pouvoir, p. 88; also Maurice Barres, L' Abdication du poete, p. 17. In a per-
sonal letter to the author M. Jules Caplain, whose book on Edouard Dubois
has been cited, insists that Dargaud frequently urged Lamartine to join
the society.

8 Cf. Lamartine, p. 168.

• • 256 • •

MINISTER FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS

surrounded, if, in the affair of the Manifesto, he had
shown a more correct judgment. No doubt there are
many noble sentiments and much brilliancy of expres-
sion, but the previous short circular seemed to me perfect
in its tone and all that could have been required of a
Provisional Government . " 1

Lord Normanby was right : foreign governments would
have been amply satisfied with the brief but explicit
circular sent to the diplomatists in Paris on February 27.
It was perhaps the necessity of satisfying French public
opinion which impelled Lamartine to supplement his
dignified notification with the verbose and declamatory
"Manifeste a l'Europe."2 And yet the composition of
that document must assuredly have proved a most con-
genial task to him, for it embodied the theories he had
advocated in his first public utterance, the "Politique
rationnelle," and the principles he had upheld during the
sixteen years of his parliamentary career. In his "M6-
moires" Lamartine asserts that he submitted the draft
of the "Manifesto" to the criticism of his colleagues, and
a few eminent politicians holding republican opinions,
who happened that day (March 6) to attend the delib-
erations of the council.3

Lord Normanby affirms that, on March 3, Lamartine
discussed the circular with him, saying that "he should
have wished to say nothing whatever about the treaties
of 18 1 5, but that this seemed impossible."4 To this state-
ment M. Louis Blanc takes violent exception. "I refuse
to believe," he writes, "for the honour of M. de Lamartine,

1 Op. cit., vol. 1, p. 171. 2 Cf. Quentin-Bauchart, op. cit., p. 53.

3 Op. cit., vol. in, p. 32. Lamartine is in error as to date; the "Manifesto"
was published March 5.

4 Op. cit., vol. 1, p. 164. That Lamartine was convinced that the mani-
festo would strengthen his position and that of France appears certain in
a letter to M. Rocher, written on March 5. " Les affaires etrangeres n'etaient
pas plus assurees apres Austerlitz. Nous aurons un systeme francais au
lieu de l'isolement." Correspondance, dccccxxi.

. . 257 • •

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

that the memory of Lord Normanby, on this occasion, was
not faulty. How can one understand such an indiscre-
tion? If M. de Lamartine really entertained the aversion
Lord Normanby attributes to him, is it likely that he
would have confided his secret feelings to a foreign diplo-
matist?"1 It is probable that Lamartine felt legitimate
apprehension as to how the European courts would view
any definite statement concerning the new-born Repub-
lic's attitude towards this bone of contention. Yet we
know that he had for years past sought some means of
freeing France from the obligations the treaties entailed.
There is no valid reason to doubt that a conversation
took place on this subject between the Minister and the
Ambassador; and this being the case, there could have
been no diplomatic impropriety in Lamartine's expressing
regret that so delicate a topic must perforce be touched
upon in the manifesto he had in preparation. The ques-
tion of war or peace had been discussed in council as
early as March 2, and Lamartine had then presented a
draft of his "Declaration" to the foreign Powers.2 The
"Memoires" of Lamartine, Blanc, Gamier- Pages and
Daniel Stern are all in accord as to the insignificance of the
changes made in the original draft prior to its insertion in
the " Moniteur" on March 5. " L'approbation qu'il recut,
quant au fond, fut unanime," writes Stern. M. Louis Blanc
alone insisted on the formal abrogation of the Vienna pacts. 3
After reading the "Manifesto," Lord Palmerston
wrote to Lord Clarendon, on March 9: "Any Government
which wished to pick a quarrel with France might find
ample materials in this circular." Nevertheless, he recog-
nized the elements which had necessitated this "piece of
patchwork," and advises forbearance on the part of

1 Histoire de la rivolution de 1848, vol. 1, p. 235.

1 Gamier- Pages, Histoire de la revolution de 1848, vol. ill, p. 221.

3 Stern, op. cit., vol. 11, p. 48.

• • 258 • •

MINISTER FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS

Europe. " I should say that if you were to put the whole
of it into a crucible, and evaporate the gaseous parts,
and scum off the dross, you would find the regulus (pure
metal) to be peace and good-fellowship with other govern-
ments."1 Lamartine himself solemnly asserts that he
was decided to make the declaration of peace an absolute
condition for his presence in the Government, and that
the majority of his colleagues were at one on this point.2
Yet none were blind as to the possible consequences of
the "Manifesto," which might be construed as provoca-
tive, despite the protestations it contained of the Re-
public's desire for peace. The day after the publication
of the "Manifesto" the Government assembled to con-
sider the situation. As M. Garnier-Pages pertinently
observes: "Pour tenir un pareil langage, et en prevision
d'une guerre probable avec la Russie et l'Autriche, la
France devait avoir l'epee au c6te." 3

Generals Bedeau and Lamoriciere were charged with
a report on the state of the army : Lamartine asked that
thirty thousand men should be immediately posted on
the Italian frontier, ready to cross the Alps should the
necessity arise. Furthermore, he demanded twenty thou-
sand experienced troops from Africa for the protection
of the Mediterranean coast; as well as fifteen thousand
on the line of the Pyrenees, and one hundred and fifty
thousand on the Rhine: a total of from two hundred
and ten to two hundred and twenty thousand men in
addition to the regular effective, which was nominally
three hundred and eighty-two thousand strong, but in
reality far less. "Lamartine awaited with anxiety the
answer, which was one of life or death to his generous
policy," writes Garnier-Pages. Having offered Europe
the choice of peace or war in the concluding paragraph

1 Ashley, Life of Lord Palmerston, vol. I, p. 86.

2 Memoires politiques, vol. Hi, p. 32. 3 Op. cit., vol. in, p. 235.

. . 259 • •

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

of his "Manifesto," he must be prepared for the latter
contingency should the Holy Alliance decide to enforce
by arms the letter of the conventions of 1815. Fortu-
nately, Lamartine had inspired the representatives of the
Great Powers who remained at their posts in France with
personal confidence. Fortunately also, they appreciated
the difficulties of his position, and realized the sincerity
of his professed desire for peace. Would his influence be
strong enough to restrain the frankly revolutionary ele-
ments by which he was surrounded from committing
breaches of international etiquette, making foreign inter-
vention imperative? Therein lay the danger: a peril none
foresaw more clearly than the Minister for Foreign
Affairs of the Provisional Government. All the tact, all
the skill, and all the persuasive eloquence of the trained
diplomatist were needed to steer between the rocks which
threatened destruction to the ship of State at home and
abroad. With this object in view, Lamartine sounded
carefully Lord Normanby and the representatives of
Prussia, Russia, Austria, Sardinia, Belgium, and the
Papal Nuncio. Attaching special importance to the neu-
trality and possible friendly attitude of England, he
opened indirect negotiations with the Duke of Wellington
and received a reassuring reply.1

Nor was the moral support of a country as far away as
the United States neglected. On February 26, Mr. Rush,
the American Minister, received a pressing invitation to
present himself at the Hotel de Ville for the purpose of
encouraging and congratulating the Provisional Govern-
ment. "The invitation was not official," writes Mr. Rush
to the Secretary of State; "yet I had every reason to
believe it authentic."2 After some reflection and a con-

1 Cf. Mcmoires politiques, vol. m, p. 31.

2 Archives of the Department of State at Washington. Cf. also my
"Lamartine et les Etats Unis," speech before the Academie de Macon de-

• • 260 • •

MINISTER FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS

sultation with Lord Normanby, Mr. Rush accepted
the invitation, and on the 28th assured the members of
the Provisional Government that, although owing to the
great distance separating his country from France, it
would be some time before he could receive instructions,
yet he felt convinced that the people of the United States
would be unanimous in their wishes of prosperity for the
new Republic. On the conclusion of the Minister's ad-
dress, M. Dupont de l'Eure advanced, and, cordially
thanking the American diplomatist, exclaimed: "The
People of France grasp the hand of the American Nation."

Although not in strict accordance with diplomatic
usage, Mr. Rush's spontaneous recognition of the Pro-
visional Government and the Republic they represented
was unhesitatingly approved in Washington, and Presi-
dent Polk took the earliest opportunity to convey his
congratulations to the people of France. The moral
effect of Mr. Rush's act was considerable, it is true, yet
the attitude of Governments nearer home, and especially
that of England, was of more vital import for the preser-
vation of the peace which Lamartine deemed essential.
With this object in view the Minister for Foreign Affairs
was constrained to replace the representatives of the
dethroned regime by diplomatists fully in sympathy
with the political ideals of republican France.

It has been seen that all through his parliamentary
career Lamartine systematically reproached the diplo-
macy of Louis-Philippe with lack of firmness and a selfish

Hvered October 5, 191 1, published in Les Annates de I'Academie de Mdcon,
vol. xvi, p. 332. Cf. Journal of a Year of Revolution, vol. i, p. 130. Lord
Normanby considered the step Mr. Rush proposed taking "unusual and
premature" and likely to "induce a point of separation between himself
and at least some of his colleagues. Mr. Rush listened very attentively to
what I said," writes Lord Normanby, "admitted there was much reason
in it, and added that he would consider it, but I am convinced he will still
do as he announced, a course to which, in fact, he is probably already
committed."

• • 26l • •

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

disregard of the higher interests of the Nation. The
sycophancy of the "Bourgeois King's" intercourse with
his brother sovereigns, and the subservience of national
to dynastic considerations, had over and over again
aroused his condemnation. The isolation of France since
the advent of the July Monarchy was a constant source
of irritation and humiliation. This ostracism was, of
course, partly due to the revolutionary origin of the
Government; nevertheless an energetic foreign policy
could, Lamartine was convinced, reinstate France in the
council of nations and give her the preponderance she
had hitherto enjoyed. As lately as 1846 he had bitterly
taunted Louis- Philippe with being "faible, a. force d'etre
prudent."1 It was now his turn to direct the foreign pol-
icy of France and to put his theories into practice. The
difficulties of the situation in which he found himself
were immeasurably greater than those which confronted
the recognized constitutional monarchy of Louis- Philippe.
The power he enjoyed, if power it can be called, was at
best of but a transient nature : he was the representative
of a Parisian political faction — not yet legally sanctioned
outside the capital, and liable to destruction from hour to
hour at the hands of the very populace which had given
it birth. Nevertheless, it was an opportunity which must
be seized, and Lamartine was determined that the un-
certainty of his tenure of office should not deter him in
his efforts to uplift the dignity of his country, which had
been sacrificed by the pusillanimity of the preceding
reign. At the same time, conscious of the ephemeral
character of the mob-instituted Government, it behooved
him to avoid compromising the future or hampering the
freedom of action of his legally appointed successors.
That this consideration constantly haunted him will
become apparent when we read his justification of the

1 Journal de Sadne et Loire, October 4, 1846.
• • 262 • •

MINISTER FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS

Provisional Government's actions before the National
Assembly, on May 23, 1848.

None felt more keenly than Lamartine the anomaly
of the position he had been called upon to assume, not
by the legitimate expression of the national will, but
owing to purely fortuitous circumstances following upon
a victorious Parisian revolution. Nevertheless, sectarian
and doubtfully national as had been the origin of the so-
cial upheaval which had hoisted him to the precarious
eminence on which he was to seek equilibrium during
three long months, Lamartine felt that the honour and
safety of France was largely in his hands, and that the
preservation of both necessitated not only a prudent but
a firm and active diplomacy abroad. His "Manifesto to
Europe" left no illusions as to the course he was person-
ally inclined to pursue, and from the tenets therein pro-
claimed none can accuse him of having departed by a
hair's breadth, although the phraseology of certain utter-
ances concerning oppressed nationalities might and did
give rise later to misapprehensions and bitter denuncia-
tions. Yet, while passive in its essence, the diplomatic
action which Lamartine inaugurated with his "Mani-
festo" became, by the mere force of events, distinctly
active in fact, although never aggressive. Nor could this
have been otherwise, since within a few weeks after the
downfall of the July Monarchy in France half of Europe
was seething in revolution.

On the other hand, Lamartine was essentially a man
of action, who prior to the overthrow of the late Govern-
ment had cherished and repeatedly professed a very dis-
tinct and energetic diplomatic policy for France. If the
means of acquiring the position he sought for his country
were changed, the end remained. Triumphant democracy
must achieve what a discredited monarchical system had
failed to carry out. He was himself the chosen instrument

• • 263 • •

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

of that democracy. If his present position were ephem-
eral, Lamartine had at that moment every reason for
the belief that a legally constituted National Government
would confirm his official status, if, indeed, it did not
insist on exalting it.1 Following this line of reasoning
it was natural for him to assume that the germs of the
policies he inaugurated would speedily bear fruits which
he himself might expect to lay in the lap of an interna-
tionally regenerated France.

First and foremost his efforts were directed towards
the preservation and consolidation of the republican form
of government, yet always with the ulterior object in view
of recovering the diplomatic prestige and advantages the
apathy of the late r6gime had eclipsed and forfeited.
Popular sentiment exacted of the new order an energetic
diplomacy which should shake off, with as little delay as
was compatible with the most elementary prudence, the
obnoxious fetters of 1815. Lamartine was himself thor-
oughly in accord with this popular sentiment 2 and needed
no pressure from his colleagues when inserting in his
"Manifesto" the determination of the Government on
this subject. But his early diplomatic training now stood
him in good stead, and he realized that for the achieve-
ment of the desired object something more than the pop-
ular sentiment of a successful, but as yet unorganized,
revolutionary party was necessary. For many years
past Lamartine had discerned that the road to release
from the humiliating obligations lay in an energetic

1 The adhesion to the Provisional Government was, in truth, becoming
more and more general. Between February 24 and March 3 nearly all
the high functionaries, field marshals, generals, magistrates, clergy, and
important leaders of parties, journalists of all colours, etc., welcomed the
new regime and promised it their support. The Archbishop of Paris, Mon-
seigneur Affre, was in the vanguard, and his lead was speedily followed
by the Church dignitaries throughout France. Cf. Victor Pierre, Histoire
de la republique de 1848, vol. 1, p. 83.

2 Lord Normanby to the contrary notwithstanding. Cf. op. cit., vol. I,
p. 165.

• • 264 • •

MINISTER FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS

political action by France in the Orient. Nor was he
alone in this belief. Polignac had adopted the principle,
the Due de Broglie, under Louis-Philippe, had enter-
tained it, and later Napoleon III, in the Crimea, was to
demonstrate the validity of the axiom.1 Although the
moment might hardly seem propitious for the enactment
of so far-reaching a policy, Lamartine took advantage
of the arrival of General Aupick, appointed Ambassador
of the Republic at Constantinople, to assure the Sultan
that he might " regarder comme siennes, l'armee, la flotte
et la diplomatic de la France."2 Exactly what the words
might be taken to mean, Lamartine was (perhaps fortu-
nately) never called upon to explain. The incident is sig-
nificant, however, and serves to illustrate the complete
reversion of the statesman's theories as to the division
of the Ottoman Empire which he had professed at the
beginning of his parliamentary career.3

More momentous issues nearer home claimed the con-
stant attention of the Minister for Foreign Affairs. In
1848 the question of diplomatic alliances, involving com-
plicated international negotiations, was overshadowed
by the daily and hourly conflict raging between the great
social forces of democracy and the adherents to the
regime which the Revolution had vanquished. The influ-
ence of French diplomacy could now only be calculated
in direct ratio with the progress made by liberalism
abroad. " L'etat de l'opinion 6tait tel," very justly writes
M. Quentin-Bauchart, "que l'octroi d'une constitution
ou l'etablissement d'une R6publique dans un pays
etranger seraient considered, tant a l'exterieur qu'a l'in-
terieur, comme une victoire remportee par elle."4 Two

1 Cf . Pierre Quentin-Bauchart, Lamartine et la politique etrangere, p. 68.

2 Cf. Garnier-Pages, La revolution de 184.8, vol. vm, p. 132.

8 Cf. speeches of January 4 and 8, 1834, La France parlementaire, vol. I,
p. 2; cf. also Lamartine, Memoires politiques, vol. 111, p. 147.
« Op. cit., p. 69.

• • 265 • •

LIFE OF IAMARTIXE

courses lay open to Lamartine in the exercise of the
diplomatic action within his actual grasp, the propaganda
of the victorious democratic liberalism at the point of
the sword, or the secret fermentation and encouragement
by France of insurrectionary movements abroad. Both
of these methods were condemned as disloyal and danger-
ous by Lamartine, who unswervingly urged the adoption
of the "propagande de rexemple," at least until such time
as the election of a legally constituted and nationally
representative Government should have relieved the
Provisional Executive of the responsibilities it had as-
sumed in the hour of social disorganization and peril.
Convinced of the expediency as well as of the morality
of this reasoning, Lamartine, in spite of the temptations
offered, resolutely refused to allow himself to be drawn
into entangling adventures in Italy, Belgium, or Ger-
many, while persistently proclaiming his sympathy with
the numberless deputations of "oppressed nationalities"
which thronged the H6tel de Ville, such as Poles and
Irish, to say nothing of the disaffected factional revolu-
tionary elements of every European nation.

The "Manifeste a 1'Europe" has been stigmatized as
at bottom "betraying an equivocal and suspicious politi-
cal creed." "On y sent a la fois et le poete humanitaire
qui a 6crit la ' Marseillaise de la paix,' et le diplomate qui
a pris pour la circonstance des lecons de la Convention
et du Directoire."1 Given the circumstances under which
it was composed and the amendments his colleagues in
the Government insisted on inserting, the document
assuredly did not adequately express the full measure
of Lamartine's personal creed. Nevertheless, it embodied
the fundamental political theories concerning foreign
affairs by which he was willing to stand or fall, and no
trace of "equivocal dealing" is discernible in the diplo-

1 Victor Pierre, op. cit., vol. I, p. 90.
• • 266 • •

MINISTER FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS

matic negotiations to which he was a party when ful-
filling the mandate he had assumed.

The various Governments of Europe lost no time in
accepting the precepts of the "Manifesto" as a basis for
political intercourse with the new French Republic, and
the diplomatic agents of all the countries represented at
Paris received instructions to remain at their posts, and
resume cordial, if as yet unofficial, contact with the
Minister for Foreign Affairs.

Laying aside for the nonce the scruples which har-
assed him, Lamartine set about organizing the personnel
of the diplomacy on which he relied for the furtherance
of the objects he had in view. Most of the men who had
been in office under Louis-Philippe were manifestly inapt
to serve the new regime, and no time was lost in recalling
the chiefs of mission, although here and there secretaries
were left in temporary charge until such time as they
could be advantageously replaced.1 The importance La-
martine attached to the friendship of Great Britain
has been seen, and from the outset his relations with
Lord Normanby had been most cordial. It was on
account of the personal friendship he entertained with
the Ambassador that he preferred to leave the post in
London in the hands of a simple charge d'affaires, be-
lieving that in view of the "cordialite sans reticence de
leurs rapports" a French Ambassador in London was a
"superfluity."2

From the outset Lamartine discerned in Belgium a
firebrand capable of setting Europe aflame. The family
ties which bound the ruling house with the late dynasty
in France constituted a danger to the Republic which
the more hot-headed politicians and agitators were

1 Cf. Daniel Stern, op. cit., vol. II, p. 51.

2 Memoir es politiques, vol. in, p. 147; cf. also Daniel Stern, op. cit.,
vol. II, p. 49.

• • 267 • •

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

anxious to remove by the annexation, pure and simple,
of the Kingdom. Nor were there lacking in Brussels ele-
ments directly in sympathy with such an enterprise. But
Lamartine realized the peril of such action, which meant
inevitably war with England and the formation of a
Continental coalition against the Republic. Fortunately
for the peace of Europe, he was able to convince the
Prince de Ligne, who had remained in Paris in his capac-
ity of representative of the King of the Belgians, of his
good faith, in spite of numerous provocations and the
actual departure of a party of filibusters. The choice of a
trained and prudent diplomatist to fill the delicate posi-
tion created by revolutionary agents in Brussels was
imperative, and the selection of M. Bellocq eventually
saved a situation fraught with the gravest consequences.
Lord Normanby notes in his "Journal" that the Prince
de Ligne requested him to take charge of some valuable
packages, as he expected an attack on the Legation by
the Belgian democrats. Lamartine, to whom the Prince
had applied for protection, replied: "What can I do for
you? I have not four men that I could send to protect
anything"; adding that he had but "la force morale de
la parole." "This is an awkward state of things for the
principal member of a Government to avow," remarks
the Ambassador.1 That Lamartine looked to the conclu-
sion of an alliance with England as the basis of his
diplomatic action there would appear to be no doubt.
At the same time other political combinations seemed to
him almost of equal import in counteracting the hostile
influences of Northern Europe. We have his own author-
ity for the statement that he meditated a triple alliance
between republican France, constitutional Italy, and the
Swiss Confederation, with this aim in view.2 Switzer-

1 Journal of a Year of Revolution, vol. I, p. 237.
* Mbmoires politiques, vol. ill, p. 143.

• • 268 • •

MINISTER FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS

land, however, although recognizing among the first the
new Republic, prudently held aloof from political engage-
ments which might compromise the neutrality she en-
joyed, while events in Italy, especially after Custozza
(July 24-25), precluded the possibility of advantageous
diplomatic action in Northern Italy.

Early in March, 1848, however, the pivot on which
hinged the political crisis in Continental Europe was the
King of Prussia. "The axis of European war or peace,
of the emancipation and reconstruction of Germany, of
the pacific and partial regeneration of Poland, was at
Berlin. The first word concerning the French Republic
uttered by the King of Prussia must perforce express the
opinion of the entire Continent. No one would dare say
war, if he said peace." l Convinced as he was that the
salvation of the newly founded Republic lay in the peace-
ful attitude of powerful neighbours, Lamartine's eager-
ness to enlist the sympathy of Frederick William IV is
conceivable. For this purpose he confided this most
important mission to Count Adolphe de Circourt, of
whose discretion and personal devotion he was assured,
in spite of the lukewarmness of his republicanism.2 The
instructions which this personal ambassador carried with
him were in reality more philosophical than concrete,
and De Circourt' s influence was relied upon to obtain at
the opportune moment certain moral rather than political
advantages.

The letter accrediting M. de Circourt to Berlin is dated
from Paris on March 6, 1848, but two important com-
munications of the 4th and 5th respectively, written
entirely in Lamartine's hand, contain the "secret in-

1 Memoir es politiques, vol. in, p. 157.

2 Cf. Stern, op. cit., vol. 11, p. 51. Lamartine himself acknowledges that
De Circourt was "plus pres du legitimisme que de la democratic " (cf.
Memoires politiques, vol. in, p. 158), and adds: "Sans etre republicain de
cceur," he was ready to welcome and serve the Republic (p. 159).

• • 269 • •

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

structions" with which the Minister for Foreign Affairs
charged his envoy.1 In substance De Circourt's mission
was one of observation rather than of action. "Pour la
mission d'humanite que je vous donne," wrote Lamartine,
"vos instructions sont toutes dans votre caractere. Pre-
server l'Europe d'un incendie general, que la moindre
etincelle de guerre pourrait allumer." To avert this peril
M. de Circourt was to use every means at his disposal to
reassure the King of Prussia as to the ambitions of France
for territorial aggrandizement. Should the project be
feasible, he was to lay the foundations for an alliance
between the three great "essentially pacific Powers,"
Prussia, England, and France; which alliance should
gradually be made to include Belgium, Spain, Switzer-
land, and the Italian States, and be the harbinger of an
inter-nation confederation whose aim was peace.2

1 Cf. Souvenirs d'une mission & Berlin, edited by M. Georges Bourgin,
vol. I, pp. 75-80.

2 Souvenirs d'une mission & Berlin, vol. I, p. 79.

CHAPTER XLIII
DISSENSIONS IN THE GOVERNMENT

It was not until six days after the establishment of
the Provisional Government that Lamartine was able to
leave the Hdtel de Ville, and take possession of the Min-
istry for Foreign Affairs, then on the Boulevard des
Capucines.1 Although the building had been invaded by
the revolutionary hordes, the archives, and in fact the
entire contents of the house, had been left untouched,
and the personnel, protected by a detachment of National
Guards, still occupied the premises. M. Bastide, a re-
publican of the "National," was appointed under-sec-
retary, and as chief of his private staff Lamartine took
a young man named Payer, who, although hitherto un-
known to him, had hardly left his side since the evening
of the 24th. The apartments of M. Guizot were found
practically as the Minister had left them at the moment
of his hasty flight. On the desk the new incumbent found
a sheaf of notes for a speech M. Guizot had prepared,
and glancing down read thereon his own name. "Plus
j'ecoute M. de Lamartine, plus je sens que nous ne pour-
rons jamais nous entendre." 2 All the private papers and
personal belongings of the late inmate and his family
were entrusted to the care of a personal friend, and in
the meanwhile Lamartine caused mattresses to be placed
in the reception-rooms for himself and his staff.

Here, during the silent watches of the first night of
his occupancy of the official residence, he meditated on

1 Cf. Stern (op. cit., vol. n, p. 33), who gives the evening of February 26
as the date on which Lamartine took possession: contra, Lamartine,
Memoires politiques, vol. in, p. 8.

2 Memoires politiques, vol. in, p. 12; cf. also Stern, op. cit., vol. 11, p. 34.

• • 271 • •

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

the context of his manifesto to the European Powers.
While at the Hotel de Ville every instant of his time had
been occupied either in quelling the anarchy which
threatened hourly to submerge the Government and
sweep away all semblance of order and authority, or in
framing hasty decrees necessitated by the urgency of the
peril. Some of these decrees may, indeed, be viewed in
retrospect as almost puerile; yet the gravity of the crisis
dictated measures such as the abolition of titles of nobil-
ity, thrown to the mob as a sop by individual members
of the Provisional Government either in moments of
panic or as a means for acquiring personal popularity.1
Others, such as the abolition of capital punishment for
political offences — a measure insisted upon by Lamar-
tine — as well as the repeal of slavery in the colonies,
and of the obnoxious press restrictions known as the
"September Laws," were worthy of unstinted praise.
Where Lamartine was lamentably weak, however, was
in yielding, after dramatically insisting that even at the
mouth of the cannon he would refuse his signature, to
Louis Blanc's socialistic, nay, communistic, scheme for
favouring the labouring classes of the capital at the
expense of the vast majority of French citizens.2 Never
was more egregious political folly conceived than that
by which the Provisional Government, in the name of
the Republic not yet legally sanctioned by the country,
guaranteed the droit au travail, in other words, State
employment in National workshops at a wage fixed by
the Commissioners at the Luxembourg.

In his "Memoires politiques," Lamartine seeks to
extenuate the participation of the Government in Louis
Blanc's so-called "Congress" at the Luxembourg. But
the public held them responsible, as they undoubtedly

1 Cf. Normanby, op. cit., vol. I, p. 151.

2 Cf. Lamartine, Histoire de la revolution de 1848, vol. I, p. 329.

272

DISSENSIONS IN THE GOVERNMENT

were, and the panic increased from hour to hour, spread-
ing through all classes of the population. The financial
bankruptcy of the Government meant the ruin of the
Republic. The extremity of the peril was realized by all
when Garnier-Pages undertook the apparently hopeless
task of administering the national finances.1 The Treas-
t ury found itself confronted with obligations far beyond
its actual resources, while owing to the prevailing panic
it became impossible to collect a loan of two hundred and
fifty millions which had recently been floated. Gold and
silver currency vanished as if by magic, and the negotia-
tion of paper or drafts became more and more difficult.
The specie which was held in the Bank of France, to
which were added fifty millions recently forwarded by
Russia, could not long withstand the drain to which the
whole country subjected it. The issue of assignats was
unhesitatingly condemned by the Government, for it
was readily recognized that such a measure must add to
the general alarm, and result in the concealment of the
last five-franc piece.2 A forced loan meant blood at the
first sign of resistance on the part of those supposedly
able to disgorge. The credit of the Government was
practically nil, and a loan proposed by it must remain in-
effectual. In its extremity the Government turned to
the Bank of France. Instead of seizing the Bank, as some
advised, Garnier-Pages saved the situation by refusing
a moratorium, or the issue of an inflated currency, and
by merely insisting that the paper in circulation be
accepted at its face value. In its turn the Bank saved
the Government with a loan of two hundred and thirty
million francs.3 Lamartine tells us that other banks, and
the public in general, soon realized that a patriotic con-

1 March 5. He succeeded M. Goudchaux, who had resigned in despair.

2 Memoires politiqties, vol. ill, p. 91; cf. also Normanby, op. cit., vol. I,
p. 212.

8 Memoires politiques, vol. in, p. 92; cf. also Stern, op. cit., vol. 11, p. 88.

* * 273 ' •

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

fidence in the Government could alone save the country
from disaster, and that rich and poor vied with each
other in averting the necessity of a recourse to revolu-
tionary measures. The revenue offices were thronged
with taxpayers, all eager to acquit their debt, the dis-
charge of which the priests preached as a public virtue.1

Lamartine believes that a serious error was made in
not taking advantage of this confidence to float a na-
tional loan. Considerations of prudence, however, would
appear to have restrained Gamier- Pages from attempt-
ing such an operation at the opportune moment, and
gradually the eagerness which had prompted the tax-
payers to anticipate their obligations died out. Perhaps
the magnitude of the Government's philanthropy alarmed
the conservative elements of the population. There was
every reason that it should, for many thousand workmen
practically lived on the public bounty: " un jour de retard
dans leur solde eut 6t6 le signal d'une immense sedition,
du desespoir, et de la faim." 2

But in spite of this satisfactory arrangement with the
Bank of France, the outlays necessitated by the phil-
anthropic policies adopted far exceeded the resources of
the Government. Receipts for customs and export duties
had dwindled almost to the vanishing point, and it soon
became apparent that fresh taxation was imperative. In
spite of violent opposition, both within the council and
on the part of the public, it was decided to meet increas-
ing obligations by the imposition of an extra forty-five
centimes on each franc of the totality of direct taxation.3
Unpopular as this measure was, and questionable as it

1 Memoires poliliques, vol. m, p. 93. Stern (op. cit., vol. 11, p. 86)
asserts that this was especially noticeable among the lower classes.

2 Memoires poliliques, vol. in, p. 94. It is manifestly impossible, however,
that Lamartine's estimate of six million is correct.

8 Cf. Stern, op. cit., vol. 11, p. 92; also Lamartine, Conseiller du peuple,
P- 143-

• • 274 • •

DISSENSIONS IN THE GOVERNMENT

may seem to political economists of to-day, there would
appear little doubt as to the wisdom of its application at
the time. As a matter of fact the very considerable in-
crease of revenue obtained averted a crisis which must
almost inevitably have ended in a reign of anarchy and
the partial or total destruction of countless millions of
national and private property. One hundred and ninety
millions was the estimated yield of this extra taxation:
yet as the Government authorized the collectors to apply
it with indulgence where small landed proprietors were
concerned, and to be firm only in their dealings with the
wealthy, the net product fell to about one hundred and
fifty millions. If. we credit Lamartine, these one hundred
and fifty millions and the two hundred and thirty mil-
lions advanced by the Bank of France, which took as se-
curity the State forests, covered all ordinary and extraor-
dinary expenses for the Revolutionary Government,
including a million a day for the State occupation of the
unemployed.1

Universal suffrage had been the ideal of Lamartine's
political credo since he had begun to interest himself in
the social questions of his epoch. As early as 1831, when
confiding his aspirations to M. Saullay, during his candi-
dature as deputy from Bergues, he expressed the convic-
tion that it behooved the legislator to "renew and recon-
struct the political world on the broad basis of the most
extended liberty and popular interests."2 Nor had he,
at any time during the subsequent seventeen years of
parliamentary activity, balked at the consequences of
this radical departure from the political principles of the
moderate conservatism to which he still nominally ad-
hered. With his unreserved acceptance of the democratic
republic came also the obligation to admit in practice

1 Cf. Memoires politiques, vol. ill, p. 96.

2 Cf. H. Cochin, Lamartine et la Flandre, p. 368.

. . 275 • •

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

the theories he had professed. It is conceivable, however,
that he may have entertained misgivings as to the use
which might be made of this unrestricted franchise by
an uneducated populace, totally ignorant of the benefits
and dangers of the weapon within their grasp. In the
session of March 4, the Provisional Government had
fixed April 9 as the date for the elections, and the 20th
of the same month for the meeting of the National
Assembly. Article 6 of the decree established that every
Frenchman became a voter, if aged twenty-one, if a resi-
dent in the commune for six months, and if not deprived
of, or suspended from, his civic rights for crime or mis-
demeanour. Article 9 provided for a minimum of two
thousand suffrages in order to nominate a representative
of the people.

Doubtful as Lamartine must have been as to the wis-
dom of a system wherein there could be no real inde-
pendence of choice, since, owing to the general lack of
education, the illiterate voter must in the large majority
of cases be completely at the mercy of the agent to whom
he confided his wishes, he was powerless to stem the
democratic flood. No limitation which went to exclude
from the exercise of their new rights even those mani-
festly incapable would for an instant be tolerated by the
popular leaders and demagogues, who counted on this
very incapacity of the voter to secure the triumph of the
cause they represented. Whatever the temper of the
revolutionary factions in Paris might be, there could be
little doubt but that in the provinces, and especially in
the rural districts, the sentiments of the masses, who had
accepted the Republic without keen enthusiasm, would
be for moderation. Fearing the return of deputies not in
sympathy with the Radicals of whom he was the leader,
the Minister of the Interior, M. Ledru-Rollin, selected
some four hundred commissioners whom he sent to the

• • 276 • •

DISSENSIONS IN THE GOVERNMENT

provinces in order to instil the constituencies with the
theories his party deemed advisable. To these envoys
Ledru-Rollin issued an official circular (March n) which
was and has been severely criticized, instructing his elec-
tioneering agents as to the r61e they were to play. "Your
mandatory power is unlimited," he wrote. "Agents of
revolutionary authority, you also are revolutionaries.
The people's victory imposes upon you the duty to pro-
claim and consolidate its achievement. In order to fulfil
this task you are invested with the sovereignty of the
people; you owe to your conscience alone an accounting
of your acts; you must do what circumstances dictate
for the public weal."1

It is conceivable that such energetic measures should
have met with sharp criticism from opponents, for they
smacked singularly of an attempt at coercion, even intim-
idation. On the other hand, the Provisional Govern-
ment was within its rights in selecting for the delicate
mission men thoroughly in sympathy with the popular
revolutionary movement which had placed the conduct
of the people's cause in their hands. Lord Normanby
was considerably shocked on reading M. Ledru-Rollin's
circular, and immediately sought Lamartine in order to
point out to him what he considered the "mischievous
tendency" of its sentiments. "When such doctrines are
to be enforced by power arbitrarily exercised," he com-
plained, "there is an end of any pretence of freedom of
choice." And he further pointed out to Lamartine that
it "was above all important for the position of France
towards Europe that the results of these elections should
be received as the free expression of the national will."2
There would seem no reason to question Lord Normanby's
assertion that Lamartine had "never seen" the circular.

1 £lias Regnault, Histoire du gouvernement provisoire, p. 201.
8 Normanby, op. cit., vol. I, p. 217.

. . 277 • • ,

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

"He read it over with me," writes the Ambassador, "and
quite agreed with the opinion of it I had just expressed.
Upon the first paragraph he exclaimed, 'He would make
Proconsuls, not Commissaries'; further on, 'that it was
the creation of an electoral dictatorship,' and he repeated
frequently on reading it, 'Tres mauvais.' " M. Regnault
asserts that the offensive circular was written by M. Jules
Favre, the general secretary, and that it was "discussed,
commented, and definitely adopted in the presence of
the Minister."1 Lamartine writes: "The Minister of the
Interior, absorbed in the immensity of detail of his De-
partment, was physically unable to answer for everything
published under the aegis of his moral responsibility."2
Madame Georges Sand, whose ready pen had been placed
at the disposal of the Ministry of the Interior, was prob-
ably not altogether guiltless in this affair, for although
she had promised Lamartine to lend her eloquent aid to
the cause of "peace, discipline, and brotherhood," the
theories of socialism attracted her irresistibly, and she
had undertaken the editorship of an "official" publica-
tion, issued from the Ministry, entitled "Bulletin de la
Republique." "Cette feuille incendiee des inspirations
de communisme," writes Lamartine, "rappelait par les
termes, les souvenirs nefastes de la premiere republique,
elle fanatisait les uns d'impatience, les autres de terreur."3
Himself the advocate of conciliation, a Utopian in his
eagerness for the amicable settlement of all social and
political differences under the Ideal Republic, Lamartine
felt keenly the rivalries and bitter party jealousies which
were becoming ever more apparent.4 But as yet they
affected him personally but slightly, although several of

1 Regnault, op. cit., p. 194; contra, Lamartine, Memoires poliliques,
vol. in, p. 164.

2 Histoire de la revolution de 1848, vol. n, p. 133.

3 Ibid., p. 138; cf. also Sand, Souvenirs et idces, pp. 8, 9.
* Cf. Memoires politiques, vol. m, p. 117.

■. • • 278 • •

DISSENSIONS IN THE GOVERNMENT

his colleagues made him the object of insidious attacks.
The leaders of the clubs, however, respected him, and
believed in the purity of his democratic principles. Be-
sides, they had need of his influence, or thought they
might have, for his popularity with all classes was indeed
prodigious.1 It was under the shadow of this popularity
that M. Ledru-Rollin sought to extend his personal influ-
ence in the hostile camp formed by the socialistic clubs.
Lamartine and the majority of the Government realized
the danger, but the peril of open discussion seemed almost
as great. Two courses were open to the Government,
either to insist on the Minister's resignation or frankly to
accept the joint responsibility of his injudicious circulars.
Unfortunately they did neither, and therein they showed
their inherent weakness. To a deputation of the Repub-
lican Club which waited on him to express the anxiety
aroused by Ledru-Rollin's circular, Lamartine openly
rebuked the Minister's policy, it is true, but his speech
partook rather of the nature of an explanation than a
frank and distinct disavowal. After telling his hearers
that it was not in his own name alone that he spoke, but
in that of the majority of his colleagues assembled in
council, he assures them that the Government "ne vou-
lait peser et ne devait peser directement ni indirectement
sur les elections"; that, as individuals, they were at lib-
erty to "inspire" their friends, but as a Government they
would blush to stoop to corruption or to use "moral
pressure on the public conscience."2 But the rift in the
lute could not long be concealed, although Lamartine
struggled manfully to shield his colleague, and effect at
least a semblance of unity in the Council Chamber. He
owed and gave the public a frank expression of his dis-

1 Quentin-Bauchart, op. tit., p. 207; cf. also Correspondance, dccccxx.

2 La France parlementaire, vol. v, p. 203; cf. also Memoires politiques,
vol. in, p. 167.

• • 279 • •

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

pleasure. "There need no longer be any reserve in com-
menting upon the division that has established itself
amongst the members of the Provisional Government,"
wrote Lord Normanby on March 16. "M. Lamartine
made it sufficiently notorious yesterday, in the answer
he gave to the Republican Club at the Hotel de Ville,
who came to complain of the circular of M. Ledru-Rollin.
There could not possibly be a more complete disclaimer
of all the sentiments of that circular: all the doctrines
which had excited so much alarm during the preceding
days were scouted as tyrannical. So strong was the lan-
guage used, and so powerful the effect produced, that it
was thought impossible M. Ledru-Rollin could remain
a member of the Government; and, accordingly, the
report prevailed during the latter part of the evening,
that he had been ejected by his colleagues, and the funds
at once rose four per cent. This report was, however, at
any rate premature; and it does not appear at all likely
that so desperate and unscrupulous a party as that
nominally headed by Ledru-Rollin would give up with-
out a struggle in the streets." 1 Although Lamartine's
eloquence was successful in temporarily "whitewashing"
the Government, including Ledru-Rollin, the trouble
was only partially averted, and the orator found himself
compelled to address deputation after deputation until
a late hour of the evening. To each he gave fresh assur-
ance of the purity of the motives which guided their policy,
and each in turn, subjugated by his words, dispersed to
carry the news to the four quarters of the capital.2

1 Normanby, op. cit., vol. I, p. 232. Lord Normanby adds: "When so
much depends upon Lamartine's life, one cannot help fearing in such a
struggle he may be picked off. He does not seem to anticipate any delib-
erate assassination, as the reaction would be dreaded; but there is a plan
to overpower the National Guard at the Affaires Etrangeres, to carry him
off and shut him up in one of the fortresses now in possession of the Garde
Mobile, who are most of them of the other party."

* Mcmoires politiques, vol. in, p. 170.

• • 280 • •

DISSENSIONS IN THE GOVERNMENT

It was evident, however, that the existing dissensions
must be faced without delay and a clear and definite
understanding be reached, if the moral authority of the
Government was to prevail. With this object in view
Lamartine spent a portion of the night in composing the
proclamation he intended his colleagues should sign on
the morrow, and which was substantially "le desaveu,
le dementi le plus textuel de la circulaire du Ministere
de lTnterieur." That he fully realized the gravity of the
impending crisis is evinced by the fact that, contrary to
custom, he went to the Hotel de Ville on the morning of
the 1 6th, "ready for anything, even the last extremities,
with weapons on his person in order to defend himself
against the rioters."

That either Ledru-Rollin or Louis Blanc aimed at the
downfall of the Provisional Government there is no posi-
tive proof. But both were guilty of plotting and counter-
plotting with the seditious elements of the most advanced
clubs, which looked with dissatisfaction on the modera-
tion of the republicanism of those in power.1 For reasons
of their own, the leaders of the radical clubs desired a
postponement of the elections fixed for April 9. They
realized the reactionary tendencies of the rural voters
and sought more time for the socialistic propaganda on
which they were engaged. They also dreaded the pres-
ence in Paris of the regular troops which it was proposed
to recall at the time of the elections, and mistrusted the
possible temper of the National Guard under its existing
organization. That this corps was more aristocratic than
democratic in its essence had been early appreciated by
the new regime, and a decree of February 27 had provided
for the admission into the corps of every Frenchman who
had attained his majority. On March 14, at the instiga-
tion of Ledru-Rollin, the Government had further decided

1 Cf. Stern, op. cit., vol. II, p. 177; also Regnault, op. cit., p. 189.
• • 281 • •

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

that what were known as the "compagnies d'elite,"
grenadiers and voltigeurs, should be disbanded and the
men fused with the general mass; while on April 18 elec-
tions should be held in virtue of which the officers should
be elected by universal suffrage.1 Thoroughly in accord
with the democratic principles professed, these measures
met, nevertheless, with violent opposition, not only on
the part of the privileged regiments, angered at the
prospect of merging their uniform with that of the masses,
but by the entire bourgeoisie, from which class they were
principally recruited.

Deputations of the aggrieved "compagnies d'elite"
had waited on M. Ledru-Rollin, who refused to receive
them. Whereupon a hostile demonstration at the Hotel
de Ville was decided upon. Informed of this project
M. Ledru-Rollin sought the aid of his friends in the
extreme parties and the clubs for the organization of a
counter-demonstration on the 17th, which, as he ex-
pressed it, "leur servira de legon."2

This demonstration, known as that of the "Bonnets a
poil," on account of the beaver-skin head-dress worn by
the regiments, took place at the Hotel de Ville on the
1 6th; but was received with only scant sympathy by
Lamartine, who dismissed the malcontents with rebukes
at their lack of patriotism and the puerile motives of
their complaint. The more hot-headed members of the
Guard objected that Lamartine's words amounted to an
intimation that, although others were allowed to demon-
strate with impunity, they, the defenders of civic order,
were forbidden to express their grievances. General
Courtais, the commander, accused them of being counter-
revolutionaries, whereupon his sword was taken from
him, and he was grossly insulted by his men. The pro-
posal was even made that they should seize the Hotel de

1 Cf. Stern, op. cit., vol. 11, p. 178. : Regnault, op. cit., p. 211.

• • 282 • •

DISSENSIONS IN THE GOVERNMENT

Ville, and throw the members of the Provisional Govern-
ment out of the windows. But wiser counsels prevailed,
and sullenly the manifestants returned to their barracks.1
Yet the significance of the demonstration could not be
mistaken: it betrayed, under the guise of a petty military
vanity, the deep-rooted class distinctions which persisted
beneath the superficial professions of democratic equality
the hour of peril had made politic. The bourgeoisie,
encouraged by the prevailing order, now dared to lift
its head and again aspire to the privileges it had enjoyed.
Its confidence in Lamartine was unshaken, but it was
felt that the time had come when their great leader should
detach himself from the revolutionary elements of the
Provisional Government, and place himself, in the name
of the upper classes and of conservative opinion, at the
head of affairs. But Lamartine was proof against any
such temptation.2 There is hardly a doubt that, if he
had so desired, the National Guard would have pro-
claimed him Dictator at that moment, and that fol-
lowing their lead, the conservative elements constituting
the vast majority throughout the country would have
hailed him as their saviour. Bloodshed and civil strife
must inevitably have followed, however, and this, at all
costs, Lamartine was determined to avert. Besides, his
loyalty to the colleagues the people had given him was
unassailable, as will be seen later in the case of Ledru-
Rollin. Differ with them he must, even to the length of
tendering his resignation; but betray them, never. Mean-
while he was about to give an instance of his serious
displeasure. After pacifying the turbulent National
Guard, and armed with the proclamation he had pre-
pared during the night, Lamartine entered the Council

1 Memoires politiques, vol. m, p. 171 ; also Maxime du Camp, Souvenirs
de I'annee 1848, p. 134; La France parlementaire, vol. v, p. 201; and Stern,
op. tit., vol. 11, p. 186.

2 Cf. Stern, op. cit., vol. 11, p. 185.

• • 283 • •

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

Chamber, where his colleagues were assembled. As he
himself has said, the two camps were now face to face,
outside and inside the H6tel de Ville, "sombre, tense, and
resolute as at the moment which precedes the combat."1
Without loss of time Lamartine made it clear to his col-
leagues that he considered the action of the Minister of
the Interior as conceived in a spirit which he could not
accept as that of the Republic or of the majority of the
Government, and which was far removed from his per-
sonal conception of the spirit of the institutions he
represented. It was impossible, he affirmed, that policies
so radically irreconcilable should emanate from a gov-
ernment which pretended to be in accord. Either the
impression created by Ledru-Rollin's circular must be
rectified by common consent, or they must part without
possibility of reconciliation. The proclamation he had
prepared must be the signal either for sincere agreement
or for definite separation. Whereupon Lamartine read to
his colleagues the liberal and conciliatory instructions
he insisted should be sent to the commissaries who had
been appointed to conduct the elections throughout the
country.

Bitter as the medicine was to them, Louis Blanc and
Ledru-Rollin swallowed it practically without protest,
for they could not ignore the ascendancy which Lamar-
tine exercised within the Council Chamber and over the
National Guards, who, during the two hours the secret
session lasted, continued to throng the Place de Greve.2
Nor was Lamartine mistaken in his belief that Ledru-
Rollin would yield without serious opposition to the
policy of the majority, for he together with every mem-

1 Memoir es politiques, vol. ill, p. 172.

2 Memoires politiques, vol. in, p. 179; cf. also Stern, op. cit., vol. 11, p. 185,
who believes that Lamartine was fully aware of Ledru-Rollin's weakness,
and of the half-hearted support he received from Blanc and Albert, and in
consequence did not seriously fear them.

• • 284 • •

DISSENSIONS IN THE GOVERNMENT

ber of the Government signed the proclamation, which
was practically a disclaimer, after the acceptance of two
or three insignificant amendments.1 Nevertheless, La-
martine's victory was one of form rather than of sub-
stance. The proclamation, although it flattered the popu-
lace, lauding the heroism and humanity displayed dur-
ing the opening scenes of the revolution, was essentially
academic. The public accepted it, as had the members
of the Council, for what it was, "a beautiful theory of
government."2 Of the sincerity of the republicanism of
each individual member of the Provisional Government
there could be no question — the struggle was between
the Moderates and the Reds, and so far the Moderates
were in a majority. Although Ledru-Rollin took the
lesson meekly, he hoped for his revenge on the morrow.
The ill-advised action of the National Guard had
aroused the ire of a large portion of the population. Of
this Ledru-Rollin determined to take advantage in order
to prove to his colleagues that his influence was as strong
or stronger than theirs. M. Regnault does not believe
that he sought the defeat of his colleagues, but that he
merely wished to demonstrate the weapons he had at
his command, should they not be disposed to condone
his late independent action.3 How far this statement can
be taken literally it is difficult to say. The "desperate
and unscrupulous"4 party nominally headed by Ledru-
Rollin, but of which he was perhaps more the tool than
the leader, was certainly determined to coerce the
Government into a postponement of the elections, and
the removal of the regular troops from the neighbour-
hood of Paris. Such men as Barbes, Cabet, Raspail, and
Blanqui, who controlled the more violent of the clubs,

1 Cf. Stern, op. cit., vol. n, p. 382. Documents historiques.

2 Regnault, op. cit., p. 221.

3 Histoire du gouvernement provisoire, p. 222.

4 Normanby, op. cit., vol. 1, p. 232.

• • 285 • • „

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

were far from submitting to the authority of either
Ledru-Rollin or Blanc, although they might take advan-
tage of their popularity to advance their own subversive
ends. The socialism of Louis Blanc was too theoretical
for these fanatics of communism. The republicanism of
Ledru-Rollin was confined within narrow party limits,
and was more political than social.1 Nevertheless, to-
gether with Caussidiere, the Prefect of Police, all these
leaders, with different ends in view, lent their support to
the seditious demonstration of March 17.2

Actuated by widely differing motives the vast crowds
pouring in from the faubourgs concentrated that morning
on the Place de l'Hotel de Ville. On the one side came
those wishing to congratulate the Provisional Govern-
ment on their victory over the National Guard, and to
assure its members of their loyalty and confidence. On
the other marched the legions whose belief in Ledru-
Rollin was unshaken, and who assembled to thank him
for his "devouement a la nation." Scattered among all
these were the leaders and emissaries of the clubs, who
hoped to turn the demonstration into one of hostility
towards the Government, and to impose their own
authority. Stern affirms, however, that none of them
wished to upset M. de Lamartine.3 Lamartine, on the
contrary, believed that the manifestation was directed
against him personally by those who sought to avenge
Ledru-Rollin's discomfiture and the humiliation in-
flicted on him by his colleagues owing to Lamartine's
proclamation anent the election circular.4 There would
seem to be substantial foundation for this surmise, at
least in so far as the partisans of the clubs and the social
propagandists are concerned. Yet the bulk of the one

1 Quentin-Bauchart, op. cit. {La politique interieure), p. 221.

2 Cf. Regnault, op. cit., p. 223; cf. also Stern, op. cit., vol. 11, p. 189.

3 Op. cit., vol. 11, p. 191, also p. 188.
* Memoires politiques, vol. in, p. 181.

• • 286 • •

DISSENSIONS IN THE GOVERNMENT

hundred and fifty thousand men, who, attired not in
their working blouses, but in their Sunday best,1 assem-
bled in the Place de la Republique, was animated with
loyal sentiments towards the Government, and went to
express their disapprobation of the unpatriotic action
of the National Guard. Unfortunately the leaders of the
clubs, together with their followers, in all some four or
five thousand men, adroitly placed themselves at the
head of the advancing columns, and on arriving at the
Hotel de Ville insisted on being received by the Govern-
ment as the spokesmen of the seething multitudes.

Turning to those around him Lamartine, referring to
the Revolution of '93, sadly observed: "To-day is our
June20th! Soon the Tenth of August will be here." Yet
he refused to sanction the arrest of the leaders, known
to be personally hostile to him, and gave orders to admit
about one hundred chiefs of various clubs and so-called
delegates of the people. Headed by the venerable Dupont
de l'Eure, the Provisional Government faced the invad-
ers, prepared to uphold the dignity, the moral independ-
ence and integrity of their office, or to die. To the ques-
tion of what might be their business, a workman called
Gerard replied by reading an address which demanded:
the withdrawal of all regular troops from Paris ; the post-
ponement till April 5 of the election of the National
Guard; and the adjournment till May 31 of the elections
to the National Assembly.2 Furthermore, the Govern-
ment was called upon to deliberate forthwith, and to
give an immediate answer. A glance at the threatening
faces which pressed around was sufficient to show the
nature of the demonstration — perhaps the most critical
the Provisional Government had been forced to contend

1 Garnier-Pages, op. cit., vol. in, p. 376.

2 Regnault, op. cit., p. 227. Lamartine says it was Blanqui who spoke
in the name of his colleagues, but Stern also names Gerard. Cf. op. cit.,
vol. 11, p. 194.

• • 287 • •

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

with. All the most violent social elements were repre-
sented, and many "figures inconnues, et dont l'expression
avait quelque chose de sinistre," as even Louis Blanc,
who knew most of the leaders, admitted.1

Despite the connivance of Blanc and Ledru-Rollin in
the organization of the demonstration, which they had in-
tended as in support of the Government minority, both
now realized that the movement had passed beyond their
control, and that they themselves were faced by the same
alternative as that which confronted their colleagues of
the majority.2 Should the Government yield to the
imperative demands of these fanatics, the authority it
had relinquished would instantly pass into the hands of
Blanqui and his henchmen in the clubs, and the Reign
of Terror would begin. Although they had aspired to the
leadership of the Government, neither Blanc nor Ledru-
Rollin was prepared to immolate himself on the altar of
communism. In view of the unexpected turn affairs had
taken it behooved them to throw in their lot with that
of the majority, and this M. Blanc very sensibly hastened
to do. His answer to the peremptory exactions of the
spokesman of the clubs was impregnated with diplomatic
conciliation, but he made it clear that, although the
Government would consent to deliberate the proposi-
tions just made, they would not do so under coercion.
Ledru-Rollin followed his colleague. Explaining the
nature of the material difficulties experienced in fixing
a definite date for the elections, he reminded his hearers
that while they undoubtedly represented the most en-
lightened elements of the capital, the Government repre-
sented France, and that it was manifestly impossible for
them to come to an equitable conclusion concerning any
adjournment of the dates for the expression of the na-
tional will, until the various departments had been con-
1 Pages d'histoire, p. 90. ' Stern, op. cit., vol. u, p. 195.

... 288. •

DISSENSIONS IN THE GOVERNMENT

suited.1 Courteous, but firm, he also declined to allow
himself to be influenced by any attempt at intimidation,
and urged his hearers to have patience and to place their
trust in the Government the people had chosen as repre-
sentative of their will.

Thus far Lamartine had kept silent, studying the sedi-
tious demonstration in which he felt that he was most
directly concerned. Nor had he long to wait. Replying
to Ledru-Rollin, M. Sobrier explained that the delegates
of the people had no intention of doing violence to the
Provisional Government, in which they had entire confi-
dence. "Not in all," roughly interrupted one of Blanqui's
followers, glancing pointedly at Lamartine, and hint-
ing that a traitor lurked in their midst. "Lamartine!
Lamartine!" echoed several voices. "Let him give us an
explanation!"2 The explanation desired was concerning
the presence of troops in Paris. Always suspicious of
Lamartine by reason of his aristocratic origin and the
supposed Legitimist tendency of his political sympathies,
the Radicals now held him personally accountable for
the rumoured retention in the capital of a considerable
body of regulars, whose presence, it was averred, was
calculated to affect public opinion, if it did not influence
directly the liberty of the poll.

In a calm and dignified speech Lamartine refuted the
implied accusations of double-dealing, and confounded
the factional suspicions by the unanswerable simplicity
of the arguments he used. As to the questions on which
the delegates demanded immediate deliberation, he re-
fused to express an individual opinion, deeming them of
national import, and as such beyond the action of any
body of men representing merely local opinion. Any

1 Cf. Stern, op. cit., vol. II, p. 196; also Lamartine, Memoires politique*,
vol. in, p. 189.

' Stern, op. cit., vol. 11, p. 197; Regnault, op. cit., p. 229; Lamartine, op.
cit., vol. in, p. 191; Garnier-Pages, op. cit., vol. m, p. 383.

• • 289 • •

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

attempt to coerce the Government and restrain the free-
dom of their deliberation, he would, however, oppose
while breath remained in his body. The inviolability of
the Government elected by the people must be not only
apparent but effective, and he very clearly notified the
delegation that if, for the aims it had in view, he and
his colleagues should deem it expedient to call the army
to Paris, they would do so for the salvation of the Repub-
lic.1 Applauded by the majority of those present, and
especially encouraged by the friendly words of a labour-
ing man, who shouted that the people thronging the
square had assembled to express their confidence in the
Government, Lamartine found for his peroration one
of those telling phrases of which he possessed the secret.
Turning to his unknown friend, he warned him with spe-
cial significance: "I believe it, I am sure of it: but take
heed, fellow-citizens, concerning meetings such as that
to-day, no matter how fine they may be. The people's
Eighteenth of Brumaire might well, against their wishes,
cause the advent of an Eighteenth of Brumaire of Des-
potism; and neither you nor we desire that."2 These
words elicited general applause, and the disconcerted
members of the extreme parties, realizing the futility of
further action without the complicity of Ledru-Rollin
and Blanc, but concealing ill the anger they felt, slowly
withdrew. As he descended the stair Blanc was ac-
costed by Flotte, one of Blanqui's most fanatic hench-
men, with the hissing insult: "Tu es done un traitre,
toi aussi!" 3

There is no doubt that the crisis was the most serious

1 La France parlementaire, vol. v, p. SIX,

* Reference to the coup d'etat of November 9, 1799, caused by the un-
popularity of the Directoire, and which paved the way to the Consulate
and Empire.

1 Louis Blanc, Pages d'histoire, p. 94; cf. also Stern, op. cit., vol. 11,
p. 199.

• • 290 • •

DISSENSIONS IN THE GOVERNMENT

the Government had faced. A single rallying cry, the
discharge of a musket, the assault of any one of the
fanatics who thronged the Hotel de Ville, must have been
the signal for a bloody encounter. The firmness of the
Government, their tact, and Lamartine's happy refer-
ence to an historical episode, fresh in the minds of all,
turned the scales at the critical moment.1 Meanwhile
impatient clamours rent the air. The tens of thousands
congregated in the vast square insisted on the presence
of the Government, and Lamartine with his colleagues
prepared to accede to the popular demand. Outwardly
calm and collected, Lamartine, as they descended the
stairs, observed to M. Pagnerre: "Ami, notre destinee
est pourtant dans les mains d'un seul audacieux, et nous
pouvons etre tous massacres." As a matter of fact, when
the members of the Executive appeared, one of Blanqui's
fanatics made an attack on M. Marrast, while another
assaulted M. Gamier- Pages, but both were quickly
seized and overpowered by those present.2 But the vast
majority of the manifestants had, indeed, come in a
pacific spirit and with the firm intention of upholding
the Government. Once the leaders of the clubs under
Blanqui's influence had been cowed, the danger was
averted, and Louis Blanc had little difficulty in sooth-
ing the unrest and inducing the people to disperse
quietly.

Alone and on foot, Lamartine, pushing his way through
the surging masses, finally reached the Ministry for
Foreign Affairs in the rue des Capucines. Here he found
his wife and friends a prey to the greatest anxiety, for
the most alarming rumours concerning his personal safety
were being circulated. Blanqui, the secret police were as-
sured, intended seizing Lamartine during the night, thus
giving the signal for a bloody struggle between irrespon-
1 Garnier-Pages, op. cit., vol. in, p. 388. * Ibid.

• • 291 • •

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

sible anarchy and the moderate republicans who sought
to consolidate their political system at the polls through-
out France.1

1 Stern, op. cit., vol. n, p. 200. Adriano Colocci has recently (1912)
published a complete biography of Paul de Flotte, one of Blanqui's hench-
men, of whom Lamartine held a high opinion (Paolo de Flotte. Milan.
Bocca). The Italian historian, however, would appear to lay undue stress
on the importance of the influence De Flotte undoubtedly wielded. La-
martine admired DeFlotte's sincerity of purpose, and recognized the mod-
eration of his socialistic creed. Cf . Histoire de la Revolution de 1848.

CHAPTER XLIV
THE CLUBS — FOREIGN DEPUTATIONS

On the morrow (March 18) a grandiloquent procla-
mation was issued by the Government, thanking the
citizens who had taken part in this magnificent testi-
monial of public confidence by which two hundred thou-
sand men confirmed their transitory authority with "la
force morale et la majeste du peuple souverain." x

Lamartine admits that the members of the Provi-
sional Government "prudently feigned" to believe that
the demonstration was intended as an homage, not a
threat, although, of course, they one and all thoroughly
understood its true purport.2

Lord Normanby would appear inclined to consider
Lamartine as an incorrigible optimist when the latter
assured him that he was convinced that two thirds or
three fourths of the clubs were with him. "I should be
much more reassured," he writes, "by this revived con-
fidence, did I not know both the qualities and the weak-
nesses of Lamartine himself. It is very probable that
some of those obscure plotters, brought into his presence,
would be fascinated by his address, and appear convinced
by his argument ; and this effect would react upon him-
self, who is never disposed to underrate his personal in-
fluence, and make him believe they were more devoted to
him than they really were. Some may also have only

1 Cf. Garnier-Pag£s, op. cit., vol. ill, p. 393; also Victor Pierre, op. cit.,
vol. 1, p. 114.

2 Histoire de la revolution de 1848, vol. 11, p. 225. There would appear
little foundation for the statement that this occurrence caused the Govern-
ment to "se rapprocher de la bourgeoisie," as Leonard Gallois would have
us believe. Cf. Histoire de la republique de 1848, vol. i, p. 268.

• • 293 • •

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

pretended to be convinced, waiting their own time of
action, because, when those who were combined to upset
the Government told him they meant to set him up
again upon its ruins, it is hard to believe there was not
in such a profession an intention to deceive." x An in-
tention to deceive there certainly was; but Lamartine,
convinced though he might be of his moral power over
the masses, was not for a moment a dupe as to the ulti-
mate aims of those who professed themselves his friends.
If the energetic attitude of the people on March 17 forced
some of those who shared power to feign acquiescence
with the majority and to restrain their official rancour,
the plotting never ceased, and none realized more acutely
than Lamartine that the house divided against itself must
fall. The only arms he had at his disposal to combat
the nefarious influences which urged the dictatorship of
the few in the name of Liberty were those calculated to
hasten the elections whereby France, and not Paris alone,
should dictate the will of the Nation. "He therefore re-
solved to fight desperately and, making use of all legiti-
mate means, to frustrate the plots of those advocating
a dictatorship or Committees of Public Safety, and to
sacrifice himself, if necessary, in order to obtain the
prompt and complete reestablishment of the sovereignty
of France as a whole and of a national representation."
The peril was, indeed, extreme. There is no faintest ring
of optimism in the sequel to the above-quoted para-
graph. " But there was an abyss of anarchy and possi-
ble despotism which at that time it seemed impossible to
cross in order to reach safety."2

To a government ruling without physical force, depend-
ing exclusively on the moral prestige of its members to
hold in check self-seeking social agitators working on the

1 Normanby, op. cit., vol. I, p. 238.

1 Histoire de la revolution de 1848, vol. 11, p. 228.

• • 294 • •

THE CLUBS — FOREIGN DEPUTATIONS

baser passions of the proletariat, ordinary means of con-
trol or repression were unattainable. ' ' There is no denying
that within the last two or three days we have been ad-
vancing rapidly towards anarchy," noted Lord Nor-
manby on the morrow of the fateful 17th; and he adds:
"There is no confidence in any one, no credit, no em-
ployment, no money, no troops, no physical force any-
where but in the masses."1 Although the demonstration
of the 17th had ended peacefully, a considerable portion
of those taking part in it retired with the consciousness
of their irresistible force, and the British Ambassador had
valid reason for the belief that they would again be sum-
moned on the first pretence which offered, and that those
intent on mischief would have little difficulty in urging
the ignorant and half-starved multitude to acts of vio-
lence. Well might Lamartine experience a moment of
discouragement. But as he tells us himself, he had no
choice: "II fallait triompher ou perir heroiquement et
honorablement dans l'entreprise." 2 Prepared for the
last extremity, conscious that his death would be the sig-
nal for a general uprising against the tyranny of the
demagogue dictators, he pushed on towards his goal, de-
cided to conciliate, even to compromise with the mi-
nority, for the furtherance of his ends. Prudent as was
this determination in theory, its practical results were
eventually to contribute to Lamartine's undoing.

Realizing that since March 17 the majority of the Gov-
ernment had lost ground, Lamartine sought closer rela-
tions with the minority, represented by Ledru-Rollin and
Blanc. Perhaps he imagined that his personal influence
with the former, which was undoubtedly considerable,
would act as a restraint to the ultra-republican tendencies
by which he was surrounded, and that he would be able

1 Normanby, op. cit., vol. 1, p. 243.
8 Memoires politiques, vol. in, p. 202.

• • 295 • •

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

to confine his action within the limits of the moderation
he himself advocated. "The imposing aspect of popular
forces," opined Marie, "evidently exercised a pernicious
sway on Lamartine's mind"; and that writer insinuates
that the probable victory of the extremists over the mod-
erates influenced his ambition.1 If Lamartine did not
actually conspire, as he was accused of doing, with the
radical elements of the Government against his more
moderate colleagues (and of this there is no proof), he
was certainly guilty of the error of a too close apparent
association with the men who represented principles not
shared by the majority. This imprudence, not to call it
by a harsher name, has been attributed to his vanity.2
To be all things to all men would appear to have been
the principle he adopted at this critical moment. He
flattered the National Guard, he caressed Blanqui,
spared Sobrier, and placated Caussidiere, seeking to be
the intermediary of to-day and the auxiliary of to-
morrow.3 But as a schemer ever ready to meet intrigue
with counter-intrigue in the muddy waters of democracy,
he was no match for the unscrupulous demagogues who,
while using the prestige he enjoyed, were ever jealous of
his preeminence, ever ready to drag him from his pedes-
tal when his influence ran contrary to their selfish aims.
His own ambitions were beyond their ken. "Ce qui le
seduisait le plus dans le pouvoir, c'etait la faculte de
pardonner, d'etre genereux, et de faire montre de beaux
sentiments."4

His prestige with the diplomats who had remained at
their posts after the fall of the Monarchy was unques-
tioned. Lord Normanby, although rather inclined to
patronize, has not hesitated to praise his frank and loyal

1 Cherest, Vie de A. T. Marie, p. 159.

* Quentin-Bauchart, Lamartine, la politique inttrieure, p. 243.

» Regnault, op. cit., p. 132. 4 Ibid., p. 133.

• • 296 • •

THE CLUBS — FOREIGN DEPUTATIONS

bearing under the most trying circumstances. Habitu-
ally charged with answering formal addresses, he always
found the attitude and language befitting the great na-
tion he represented. "Jamais grand peuple n'eut un
plus magnifique maitre des ceremonies," writes Regnault.
But this "magnificent master of ceremonies" had tasks
and responsibilities outside the gilded salons of the Hotel
de Ville or Ministry for Foreign Affairs. The grim realities
of his precarious position demanded a vigilance which al-
lowed of no respite. The moral authority he wielded was
but a poor substitute for the physical force upon which
stable governments rest. He could do but little to remedy
this defect in his armour, and whatever he did could be
done only at considerable risk to his own popularity, and
perhaps even at the cost of the very existence of the
Government. Nevertheless, it was urgent that, in case
of dire need, the Provisional Government, representing
the Republic, should have at its disposal some tangible
means of enforcing its authority. With this eventuality in
view, Lamartine had opened secret communications with a
military commander in whom he felt implicit confidence.1
Twenty-six thousand men under General Negrier were
assembled at Lille, on the Belgian frontier. Convinced of
Negrier's loyalty to the Republic, Lamartine had de-
fended him and his command against all attempts on the
part of the more radical of his colleagues to recall and de-
pose him. As Minister for Foreign Affairs he had insisted
in council on the necessity of an armed force capable of
repulsing any attempted invasion from the north. As a
responsible statesman, he confesses that he desired an
armed nucleus at Lille, in order that should the anarchical
and bloodthirsty demagogues triumph in Paris, the mod-
erate republicans could find safety in the north until
Negrier had reconquered the capital.2

1 Cf. Memoires politiques, vol. in, p. 205. * Ibid., p. 204.

• • 297 • •

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

Meanwhile Lamartine left no stone unturned in his
efforts to conciliate the leaders of the ultra-republican
and communistic clubs. With Raspail, who had pro-
claimed the Republic at the H6tel de Ville before the
formation of the Provisional Government, he had several
interviews, as also with other politicians of the most ad-
vanced socialistic theories. Sobrier, as has been seen,
was in sympathy with Lamartine, although acknowledg-
ing allegiance to Louis Blanc and the minority. In touch
with the ultra-republicans who were constantly weaving
plots to abduct Lamartine and the more conservative
members of the Government, Sobrier had enrolled a
special force, some five or six hundred strong, for their
protection.1 Lamartine would appear at first to have
placed great confidence in this young revolutionist.
Through his instrumentality quarters were procured in
the rue de Rivoli, and there Sobrier established his head-
quarters. As an aid to the Prefect of Police, Caussidiere,
Sobrier undoubtedly did good service; but he was a
scatter-brained, unbalanced man, and at a later date gave
his employer considerable trouble. In his eagerness to
bring under his influence even the adherents to the most
extreme factions, Lamartine sought every opportunity of
meeting and conversing with men known to be bitterly
hostile to the Government. Not unnaturally this gave
rise to suspicions among the more moderate elements.
Hence the accusation of conspiracies having in view per-
sonal ambitions. Reactionaries and ultra-republicans
alike began to share this feeling of distrust towards
Lamartine, the purity of whose political motives was
openly questioned. The interview with Blanqui de-
scribed in his " Memoires politiques," 2 and which will be
considered in detail in due course, was undoubtedly fruit-
ful in results. Caussidiere, no lenient critic, asserts that

1 Memoires politiques, vol. in, p. 212. * Ibid., pp. 217-21.

• • 298 • •

THE CLUBS — FOREIGN DEPUTATIONS

Blanqui was in accord with Lamartine on many points,
and that had Ledru-Rollin been willing, the three might
have worked together.1 This same author states that he
repeatedly urged Lamartine to throw in his lot in all sin-
cerity with the democratic minority of the Provisional
Government, in order to establish the equilibrium neces-
sary for the success of the revolution. "He said he would
think it over," adds Caussidiere.

Lamartine had not been conspicuously successful in
his attempts at reconciliation with Ledru-Rollin, for the
latter was at that period too deeply engrossed in his
schemes for personal power,2 but his "accord" with
Blanqui was of the slightest. He tells us that he got all
he wanted out of Blanqui, that is to say: "le concert pour
la convocation de l'Assemblee et la promesse de com-
battre les tentations dictatoriales." 3 Perhaps Blanqui
desired to meet the Minister of the Interior in order to
dissuade him from pursuing the socialistic intrigues hos-
tile to Lamartine. If this be so, Flocon, Jules Favre, and
others of the minority were needlessly worried concern-
ing the influences they dreaded when warning Ledru-
Rollin against Blanqui, and urging an agreement with
Lamartine "contre les exageres et la reaction a la fois."
Poor as was Ledru-Rollin's opinion of Lamartine's grasp
of practical politics, he realized his immense intellectual
superiority, and was inordinately jealous of his unde-
niable popularity. Hence his disinclination to enter into
a partnership wherein he must content himself with the
second place.4

With Louis Blanc there was no understanding possible.
Since the manifestation of March 17, Blanc realized that
he had in his hands a colossal force, and he was deter-

1 Cf. Memoires de Caussidibre, vol. in, p. 81.

2 Cf . Quentin-Bauchart, op. cit. {La politique interieure), p. 244.

3 Cf. Memoires politiques, vol. in, p. 220.

4 Quentin-Bauchart, op. cit., p. 246.

• • 299 • •

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

mined to use it at the opportune moment against the ma-
jority. He also feared the moral ascendancy of Lamar-
tine, and sought only the occasion to discredit and crush
his dangerous rival.1

Lamartine is certainly sincere when he writes that his
dealings with the clubs were actuated by one single ob-
ject: "the convocation and acceptance by the people
of Paris of the National Assembly."2 Nevertheless, disin-
terested as his activity amongst these seditious elements
may appear, there was at bottom a personal ambition.
Since the overthrow of the Monarchy and the rise of his
immense popularity and undoubted influence, Lamartine
and his friends looked to the elections and the eventual
action of the National Assembly for the realization of his
dream. The clubs formed a stumbling-block and consti-
tuted a danger, precisely because they were antagonistic
to the elections which were, he thought, to proclaim his
triumph. To win over these opponents now became the
object to which he devoted all his energies.3 But the
sentimental socialism 4 which constituted the basis of
Lamartine's intercourse with the clubs was powerless to
combat the grim realities which surrounded him, while
his motives, noble and generous though they undoubtedly
were, were open to suspicion and misinterpretation. As
a matter of fact, the result was a miserable imbroglio of
political intrigues, in the maze of which Lamartine seemed
to be deceiving all parties in the interest of his personal
ambitions.5 The dupe of the more unscrupulous agita-
tors, who cast him ruthlessly aside once his utility was
exhausted, he found himself bound hand and foot by his

1 Garnier- Pages, op. cit., vol. iv, p. 76; cf. also Quentin-Bauchart, op.
cit., p. 246.

* Memoires politiques, vol. ill, p. 221.

* Cf. Quentin-Bauchart, op. cit. {La politique tlrangere), p. 246.

* Edouard Rod, Lamartine, p. 68.

8 Quentin-Bauchart, op. cit., p. 247; cf. also Blanc, op. cit., vol. II, p. II.

• • 300 • •

THE CLUBS — FOREIGN DEPUTATIONS

own chivalrous sentiments of loyalty to those whose con-
fidences he had received, or believed he had received.

The dupe in a sense only, however. Recent historical
research among the papers left by leaders of the clubs
who were closest in touch with Lamartine make it evi-
dent that, for a certain time at least, much was expected
of his influence and popularity. Nevertheless, great
jealousy prevailed, and plots were rife to take his life.1

That Lamartine himself was satisfied concerning the
utility of the prestige he wielded is manifest from the con-
tents of a confidential note which he scribbled to M. de
Champvans on March 22, 1848, while in the thick of
the plots and counter-plots which raged around him.
The letter is confidential and instructs M. Champvans to
reply to the care of Dargaud, probably on account of the
insecurity of private correspondence at either his home
or his official residence. In this communication he tells
his friend that the clubs are determined to upset the Pro-
visional Government. "But they will replace me at the
head of affairs again," he asserts; adding, however, that
he would not accept, as he considers the government
"indivisible." 2 No more conclusive proof of his loyalty
to his colleagues through thick and thin could be asked.
The same letter contains an urgent appeal to Champ-
vans to use all his influence to hasten the advent of the
National Assembly. " II n'y a de salut et de force que la.
Elle sera immense et inviolable."

Terribly apprehensive as he could not fail to be,
Lamartine now concentrated all his efforts towards this
one aim: the meeting of the National Assembly. Lord
Normanby notes this anxiety when transcribing Lamar-
tine's remark to him, "Nous sommes sur un volcan";

1 Cf. Wassermann, Les Clubs de Barbls et de Blanqui en 1848, p. 125;
cf. also Normanby, op. cit., vol. 1, p. 322.

2 Correspondance, dccccxxiv.

• • 301 • •

LIFE OF IAMARTINE

adding, "He seemed to-day (March 18) to think worse
of matters than he had ever previously done."1 Would
the clubs really have placed Lamartine at the head of
affairs had they been successful in ousting the Provi-
sional Government? That Lamartine himself doubted
their sincerity would seem apparent from a conversa-
tion he had, at a later date, with Lacretelle. Asked if he
did not believe he had compromised the duration of the
Republic of 1848 by refusing the provisional dictatorship
which might have been his either in March or in May of
that year, Lamartine replied: "I would assuredly have
achieved the reign of democracy; but I should have
needed two scaffolds; one on the right for M. de Mon-
talembert, the other on the left for Blanqui. Now, you
know my opinions as to the inviolability of human life,
and concerning the durability of governments founded
on terrorism. I sought to transmit to history the proof
that the Republic is synonymous with clemency and
fraternity. The Republic I might then have essayed
would have lasted two years: that which will soon be
ours will last for centuries."2 Yes, there was greatness,
sublime nobility in his refusal to segregate personal am-
bitions and his loyalty to the men who turned their backs
upon him in the hour of trial. An English critic, the
diarist Greville, thus describes the general feeling at this
moment: " In all this great drama Lamartine stands forth
preeminently as the principal character ; how long it may
last God only knows, but such a fortnight of greatness the
world has hardly ever seen; for fame and glory with
posterity it were well for him to die now. His position is
something superhuman at this moment; the eyes of the
Universe are upon him, and he is not only the theme of

x Normanby, op. cit., vol. 1, p. 246; cf. also Correspondence, DCCCCXXVI,
April 1, where he uses the same expression as to Normanby.
2 Charles Thuriet, Anecdotes inedites sur Lamartine, p. 24.

• • 302 • •

THE CLUBS — FOREIGN DEPUTATIONS

general admiration and praise, but on him almost alone
the hopes of the world are placed. He is the principal
author of this Revolution: they say that his book (Les
Girondins) has been a prime cause of it; and that which
he has had the glory of directing, moderating, restrain-
ing. His labour has been stupendous, his eloquence won-
derful." 1

"Nature owns no man who is not a martyr withal."2
Lamartine's martyrdom had begun. Not the least of the
serious preoccupations which he had to face at this
period was caused by the attitude assumed by the Gov-
ernment towards the foreign refugees who swarmed in
Paris: Poles, Irish, Belgians, Germans, Hungarians, Nor-
wegians, and Italians; political malcontents who looked
to the French democracy not only for sympathy, but for
armed assistance. "They seek to force the hand of the
Government and drive it to carry war into their various
countries accompanied by the French flag," complains
the harassed legislator.3 Delegations followed each other
in rapid succession at the Hotel de Ville, and most of
them were received by Lamartine in person. The di-
plomacy of the Minister for Foreign Affairs was put to the
test when replying to the inflammatory addresses pre-
sented by these hot-headed revolutionists, who invari-
ably demanded arms and pecuniary assistance from the
Government for their propaganda abroad. And yet,
arduous as was the task, Lamartine, in the majority of
cases, found words of conciliation and encouragement,
which, while calming the impetuosity of his hearers, were
not in too flagrant contradiction with the pacific assur-
ances of the "Manifesto to Europe."

The most dangerous of these agitators were the Bel-

1 The Greville Memoirs, a Journal of the Reign of Queen Victoria front
1837 to 1852, entry of March 5, 1848, vol. 11, p. 141.

* Carlyle, Past and Present. * Memoires politiques, vol. in, p. 222.

• • 303 • •

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

gian democrats. The frontier of their kingdom was the
most accessible from Paris ; and racial and political affini-
ties pointed to that artificially constituted state as pecul-
iarly propitious ground for the spread of the democratic
propaganda. The Government, or a portion of it, was
inflexibly determined not to lend its aid to any scheme
involving the sanctity of international pacts: yet its au-
thority was only moral, at least in the capital. Certain
sympathizers with the Belgian refugees, who if not mem-
bers of the Government were certainly closely connected
with it, were instrumental in aiding the conspiracy.1
A contingent actually set out from Paris, railway accom-
modation having been provided, unknown to the Gov-
ernment. On their arrival at Lille the filibusters asked
General N6grier for arms, but through the intercession
of Lamartine, who had been warned of the expedition,
these were refused.2 Determined to proceed in spite of
Negrier's opposition, and having surreptitiously received
a consignment of arms, the filibusters crossed the frontier,
only to be driven back after an inglorious struggle at the
village of Risquons-Tout. Although undoubtedly fo-
mented and abetted by individual democrats in Paris who
represented themselves as Government agents, perhaps
even secretly countenanced by the Ministry of the In-
terior, this raid was, nevertheless, the action of irre-
sponsible agitators with which the majority of the Pro-
visional Executive could have no sympathy.3

M. de Freycinet, an aide-de-camp appointed by the
Provisional Government, and to whom Ledru-Rollin
proposed participation in this expedition, has left inter-
esting notes on the subject. Refuting the generally ac-

1 Cf. Memoir es politiques, vol. Hi, p. 223.

1 Cf. Lamartine, Histoire de la revolution de 1848, vol. 11, p. 253; also
Blanc, op. cit., vol. 11, p. 11.

* Stern (op. cit., vol. 11, p. 271) throws the blame on Caussidiere, but
admits the connivance of Ledru-Rollin.

304

THE CLUBS — FOREIGN DEPUTATIONS

cepted belief that Ledru-Rollin premeditated the proc-
lamation of the republic in Belgium, whatever the risk of
diplomatic complications, M. de Freycinet adds: "The
conference at which I assisted left me with quite another
impression. Ledru-Rollin seemed to submit to rather than
desire the enterprise. Not daring to oppose force, he
sought to guide it [la canaliser]. He hoped that with
prudent men at its head no excesses would be committed,
and that perhaps it would not cross the frontier." 1

The disturbances at Strasbourg and on the Rhine
frontier were of slight importance. More serious was the
attempted invasion of Savoy. An expedition, starting
from Lyons, actually surprised and overpowered the
garrison at Chambery, but was ignominiously expelled
on the morrow by a popular rising of the inhabitants.
Appreciating the danger in this region, Lamartine of-
fered Charles Albert the support of French troops to
protect the Piedmontese border.2 Although it would be
unfair to hold Ledru-Rollin directly responsible for ac-
tions diametrically opposed to the letter and the spirit
of Lamartine's "Manifesto to Europe," the weakness and
intrigues of the Minister of the Interior undoubtedly lent
colour to the accusations of double-dealing his enemies
brought against him. Nor did Lamartine himself escape
the opprobrium of those who insisted on the moral as well
as political neutrality of the Provisional Government in
its relations with foreign States. Now and again the Min-
ister for Foreign Affairs, desirous as he was to keep the
pledges he had given to Europe, allowed himself to be
entrapped into expressions of sympathy in his speeches

1 Souvenirs, vol. I, p. 31; cf. also Quentin-Bauchart, op. cit. (La politique
interieure), p. 305. In Brussels the Minister for Foreign Affairs, M. d'Hoff-
schmidt, publicly absolved Lamartine of any disloyalty towards Belgium,
citing, in his speech before the Chambers, the French Minister's repeated
protests and proclaiming unshaken belief in their sincerity.

2 Stern, op. cit., vol. 11, p. 269.

• . 305 • •

LIFE OF IAMARTINE

before subversive delegations of refugees and political
plotters, which were, to say the least, not strictly in ac-
cord with the usages of prudent diplomacy.

Lord Normanby early found cause for dissatisfaction,
and, on March 17, when some Irish residents in Paris
presented the Provisional Government with a green flag,
the Ambassador felt constrained to give utterance to
his chagrin.1 Lamartine makes no mention of this in-
cident in his "M6moires," but a paragraph inserted in
the collection of his official speeches undoubtedly refers
to Lord Normanby's report. The Irish deputation had
insisted on being accompanied to the Hotel de Ville by
a delegation from the Irish College established in Paris.
The seminarists had, however, become separated from
their compatriots during the march to the Place de
Greve, and as a matter of fact never reached their des-
tination. According to Lord Normanby, Lamartine ad-
mitted having answered the deputation, but said he
had seen no flag and made no allusion to it. Regretting
that he had been inaccurately quoted, the Minister, when
brought to book by the Ambassador, offered to insert in
the "Moniteur" a paragraph, which he returned to the
Council Room to write, and a copy of which he a few
moments later handed Lord Normanby. It is evident
that Lamartine begged the question, but the Ambassador
"did not think it right, at a moment of such extreme
embarrassment, to detain him further by any verbal
criticisms." 2 It is probable that the paragraph published
in "La France parlementaire " and the note given to
the British Ambassador are identical. The document
expresses in dignified terms the regret of the Provisional
Government at not meeting the seminarists when they
came to the Hotel de Ville, and assures them of the sym-
pathy of the Revolution of February with a religion in

1 Normanby, op.cit., vol. 1, p. 243. ' Ibid., p. 246.

• • 306 • •

THE CLUBS — FOREIGN DEPUTATIONS

which it recognizes the sources of liberty and a double
bond of the fraternity which exists between them.1 Lord
Palmerston had already expressed his dissatisfaction con-
cerning Lamartine's allocutions to Irish deputations, on
March 21, and urged the Ambassador to warn him that
the strain on friendly relations was a dangerous one. It
was consequently in compliance with direct instructions
from the home Government that Lord Normanby so
persistently impressed upon Lamartine the necessity of
making the receptions as innocuous as possible.2

On April 3, Lamartine was called upon to receive a far
more important deputation of Irishmen who had come
all the way from Dublin to seek the sympathy and aid of
the French democratic Government. Lord Normanby,
as early as March 23, had prepared Lamartine for the
arrival of these disaffected compatriots and sought to
prompt the Minister for Foreign Affairs as to the reply
he desired should be made. "... Knowing that some of
those who watch him are ready to say that I have too
much influence with him, I am ever anxious, for his
sake, not to put myself too forward at these moments,"
writes the British Ambassador.3 Nevertheless, he con-
stantly sought out opportunities to suggest the line of
conduct desired, and Louis Blanc was not the only mem-
ber of the Government who considered that Lamartine
was too inclined to submit to influences which amounted
almost to a mild form of dictation. In the present in-
stance rumours were current that, "in case of a demand
from Ireland, France would be ready to send over fifty
thousand of her bravest citizens to fight." Ridiculous as
such a statement must have appeared to Lord Normanby,
who was, perhaps, the best-informed foreigner in Paris

1 La France parlementaire, vol. v, p. 208.

' Ashley, Life of Lord Palmerston, vol. 1, p. 87.

8 Normanby, op. tit., vol. 1, p. 268.

• • 307 • •

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

as to the existing political conditions, the Ambassador,
earnestly desirous of preserving friendly relations be-
tween the two countries, discerned an element of discord
which was not without peril.1 Hence the insistence of
his recommendations to Lamartine that the greatest
prudence be exercised when replying to foreign delega-
tions whose main object was to stir up strife and em-
barrass the too-pacifically inclined Provisional Govern-
ment. Given the surroundings and the insecurity of his
position, Lamartine's address to the Irish rebels — for
such they assuredly were — was, as Lord Normanby
puts it, "essentially sound, though somewhat inflated." 2
He flattered the envoys of "cette glorieuse ile d'Erin
qui, par le genie naturel de ses habitants, comme par
les peripeties de son histoire, est a la fois la poesie et
l'hero'isme des nations du Nord." And although he re-
frained from giving them any encouragement, he very
neatly turned the difficulty by referring to the strained re-
lations which Pitt's action had caused when he recognized
and lent assistance to the civil strife aroused in France
by the proclamation of the First Republic. "Cette
conduite n'est pas encore, malgre nos efforts, tout a fait
effacee de la memoire de la nation." 3

On this occasion Lamartine found himself, perhaps,
in the most delicate situation his responsibilities as
Minister for Foreign Affairs had evoked. "L'entente
anglaise, l'alliance anglaise s'il pouvait y parvenir,
etaient le premier point de son programme comme la
premiere ndcessite de sa politique." 4 On the morrow of
the Revolution of February, British neutrality had been
the chief obstacle to a European coalition. But now
Lamartine hoped for more than the security this neu-

1 Normanby, op. cit., vol. I, p. 268. ' Ibid., p. 295.

* La France parlementaire, vol. v, p. 235.

4 Quentin-Bauchart, op. cit. (La politique Itrangere), p. 100.

308

THE CLUBS — FOREIGN DEPUTATIONS

trality offered the new-fledged Republic. He sought a
formal guarantee against any foreign interference what-
soever.

On this point, however, the English Government
remained inflexible, and Lamartine had been unable
to get from Lord Normanby either a promise of ma-
terial aid or even the moral support of the official
recognition he persistently sought. Even later, when the
revolutions in Vienna and Berlin (March 13 and 18
respectively) had dissipated the danger of intervention
from those quarters and given French diplomacy a freer
hand, Lamartine realized that Great Britain still held
the key to the situation and exercised a preponderant
influence over Continental politics.

In Italy, where the insurrection in Lombardy and Vene-
tia and Charles Albert's campaign against Austria opened
the door to French ambitions, Lamartine's diplomacy was
made subservient to that of Palmerston. Even in Italy
his deference to English susceptibilities was apparent. A
recent French critic, M. Quentin-Bauchart, cites two
instances which leave no room for doubt as to the im-
mense importance attached by Lamartine to the good-
will of the statesman across the Channel. Early in March
Ferdinand II of Naples requested, confidentially, the des-
patch to Sicilian waters of a French warship in order to
counterbalance the moral influence exercised over the in-
surgents by the presence of the British fleet. Lamartine
not only declined the request, but notified Normanby of
the proposal.1

Again, in the beginning of April, the French Com-
missioner in Naples opposed the departure of a French
vessel hired by sympathizers of the Italian cause against
Austria for the transportation of volunteers to Lom-

1 Despatch from Neapolitan Minister to France, March 10, 1848. Cf.
Quentin-Bauchart, op. cit. {La politique etranglre), p. 102.

• • 309 • •

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

bardy, alleging that his Government desired to avoid
giving umbrage to Great Britain.1 But firm as was
Lamartine's determination to conciliate England, other
considerations forbade rash interference in the tangle of
Italian politics. " In April," writes Mr. Thayer, " Lamar-
tine, the political will-o'-the-wisp who temporarily served
as head of the French Republic, spoke friendly words
about Italy which, in his youth, he had called the 'land
of the dead.'2 Brofferio's party in Piedmont, and the Re-
publicans elsewhere, wished to cement an alliance with
France, and dreamed of the coming of a French army
to hasten the expulsion of the Austrians: but to this
scheme Charles Albert would not listen." 3 Lamartine
was himself fully aware of the King of Sardinia's ob-
jections to foreign interventions in the affairs of Italy.
At this moment the doctrine, 'TItalia fara da se," was
strenuously advocated by a majority of patriots who
looked to Charles Albert for national salvation and were
desirous of avoiding any recourse to foreign intervention
in the guise of military aid and support. The republicans
and radicals in the Peninsula might perhaps have wel-
comed French intervention, owing to the political creed
their neighbours had recently embraced. Yet even they
were not slow to realize the peril to Italian nationalism
such interference might entail.

1 Despatch from Lord Minto to Palmerston, dated April 6, 1848. Cf.
Quentin-Bauchart, op. cit. (La politique itrangere), p. 102.

2 Cf. Le dernier chant de Childe Harold.

3 W. R. Thayer, Life and Times of Cavour, vol. I, p. 95.

CHAPTER XLV
FOREIGN AND DOMESTIC POLICY

True to the principles laid down in his "Manifesto
to Europe," and certainly in accord with the majority of
his colleagues, Lamartine, both in his foreign policy and
in his dealings with politicians at home, had but one defi-
nite and fundamental object in view: the delivery of the
free and untrammelled Republic into the hands of a Na-
tional Assembly whose election faithfully represented the
voice of France.

The maintenance of friendly relations with England
(if possible a closer alliance with that country) seemed
the surest guarantee for the liberties the people had won,
as well as a safeguard against the revolutionary disorders
on the Continent seeking to entangle the Provisional
Government in the net of their international intrigues.
The selfish policy of the July Monarchy, especially the
Spanish marriages, had alienated British sympathies and
caused the fall of Louis-Philippe to be regarded almost
with complacency in Downing Street. Lamartine's at-
titude at the time when the question of the marriages was
exciting public indignation had been appreciated in
England, and on his assumption of office in the Execu-
tive he had early made it clear that, so far as Spain was
concerned, English influences in that peninsula would
not be challenged, provided the Orleanist party at Mad-
rid permitted no hostile demonstration against the
Republic.1 On this account, to some extent at least,
English statesmen'^were prepared to look without great
regret on the change of government in France, so long as

1 Quentin-Bauchart, op. cit. {La politique etr anger e), p. 104.
. . 311 . .

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

the establishment of popular liberties across the Channel
gave no direct encouragement to political malcontents at
home. As early as February 26, 1848, Lord Palmerston,
writing to Lord Normanby, had stated: "Our principles
of action are to acknowledge whatever rule may be es-
tablished with apparent prospect of permanency, but
none other. We desire friendship and extended com-
mercial relations with France, and peace between France
and the rest of Europe. We will engage to prevent the
rest of Europe from meddling with France, which, indeed,
we are quite sure they have no intention of doing. The
French rulers must engage to prevent France from as-
sailing any part of the rest of Europe. Upon such a basis
our relations with France may be placed on a footing
more friendly than they have been or were likely to be
with Louis- Philippe or Guizot." ! But great as was Eng-
lish official and public faith in Lamartine, his reception
of the Irish deputations caused some alarm and mis-
givings. The leaders of these international manifesta-
tions not only expressed admiring sympathy with the
liberal institutions the new era had inaugurated in France,
but sought the direct intervention of the Provisional
Government for the redress of political grievances at
home, in defiance of Parliament and Crown. The Irish
who invaded the Hotel de Ville contended that, like the
Poles and Italians, they also were an oppressed national-
ity, and had as good a right as either to look to demo-
cratic France for deliverance, even at the cost of war.
Nor were the ultra-revolutionary fanatics in Paris alone
inclined to pay that cost in their enthusiasm for their
down-trodden brethren. "Les dol6ances irlandaises
touchaient une fibre tres sensible chez la population
francaise," writes M. Quentin-Bauchart: "il etait pour
le gouvernement impossible de refuser de les 6couter,

1 Ashley, Life of Lord Palmerston (London, 1876), vol. I, p. 77.
• • 312 • •

FOREIGN AND DOMESTIC POLICY

et bien delicat de leur r6pondre." l A cursory glance
through the pages of Lord Normanby's "Journal" is
sufficient to convince the sceptic as to the gravity of the
crisis. Again and again the Ambassador impressed on
Lamartine the danger of indiscriminate expressions of
sympathy with the openly avowed ambitions of foreign
deputations, and although, at times, these suggestions
amounted to an attempt to dictate the line of conduct
Her Majesty's Government desired to see adopted,
Lamartine, by sheer force of circumstances, as well as
by reason of his eagerness to stand well with the Power
which held the balance of Europe in its grasp, submitted
as gracefully as he could. "I think," writes Lord Nor-
manby on March 25, "I have now made M. Lamartine
sufficiently sensible that this is the substantial ground of
my complaint, and by repeated representations on the
subject I have impressed upon him the importance to
international relations, that in this particular instance of
the approaching Irish deputation, considering its ob-
jectionable character, he should be most cautious in his
answer, and make as clear as possible his disclaimer of
the intention of pronouncing any opinion on the political
questions which may concern different portions of the
British Empire." 2

Lord Normanby could not, however, take serious excep-
tion to the substance of Lamartine's address of April 3.
He confesses as much when he writes that, bearing in
mind the difficulties of the position, it is not fair to
"too nicely criticize particular phrases." On the whole,
he considered that the address was "essentially sound,
though somewhat inflated"; criticisms which Lamartine
is said to have taken in very good part, admitting that
much of what he said was "only figures of speech." 3

1 Op. cit. {La politique etrangere), p. 109.

* Normanby, op. cit., vol. I, p. 259. 3 Ibid., p. 296.

. . 313 . .

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

Nevertheless, as has been seen, the occasion was a very
serious one, a fact none realized more deeply than Lamar-
tine. Very firm in his allocution, he categorically refused
to consider military intervention, asserting that the Irish
did not constitute a nation, but were merely a political
party.1 After having assured his hearers of the deep-
rooted sympathy of the French people, and of the hospi-
tality they would always find awaiting them, Lamartine
finished by demonstrating how unwarrantable any offi-
cial interference with the private affairs of a friendly
neighbour would be. "I have made it clear in the case of
Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, and Italy," he declared.
"I again repeat it concerning the differences any nation
may have to settle with its home government."

This determined and energetic handling of the tur-
bulent Irish was greatly appreciated in England. "We
are not ashamed to confess," said the "Times," of April 5,
"that we felt an unspeakable relief in the perusal of
M. Lamartine' s reply to the Irish addresses. . . . We con-
fide in M. Lamartine, and that all the more because there
is absolutely no other confidence in France. . . . We see
revived on the bank of the Seine an Athenian Republic
hanging on the lips of a Demosthenes, ready to kindle
at a word, and to dare the power of Macedon with the
tones of the orator still thrilling in its ear. ... M. La-
martine has only to say the word, and a million furious
propagandists are let loose on the world. He extends the
olive branch, and we accept the pledge."

The "Daily News" of the same date was even more
commendatory. "A more sensible, a more courageous,
a more noble answer was never given by minister or sov-
ereign to insidious petitioners than M. Lamartine made
on Monday to Mr. Smith O'Brien and the Irish dep-

1 La France parlementaire, vol. v, p. 234; cf. also Quentin-Bauchart,
op. oil. (La politique tlranglre), p. 117.

• • 314 • •

FOREIGN AND DOMESTIC POLICY

utation. . . . We must say that the Foreign Minister of
the French Provisional Government has shown an ex-
ample of honesty, frankness, and disinterestedness in
international policy, of which there are few examples in
kingly history. M. Lamartine is no petty or local poli-
tician," etc., etc.

"Ireland still looks dangerous," wrote the Prince Con-
sort to Baron Stockmar, on April II, but the British
Government felt assured that as long as Lamartine's
word counted for anything in France, the rebellious is-
land would receive no aid from across the Channel.1

In Parliament, Lord John Russell gratefully acknowl-
edged Lamartine's action, expressing his admiration for
the French statesman's firmness and courage in the pe-
culiarly difficult position in which he found himself, and
from the Foreign Office instructed Lord Normanby to
convey the following message: "Pray tell Lamartine
how very much obliged we feel for his handsome and
friendly conduct about the Irish deputation. His an-
swer was most honourable and gentlemanlike, and just
what might have been expected from a high-minded man
like him." 2

And a few days later (April 18) the same correspond-
ent wrote: "Lamartine is really a wonderful fellow, and
is endowed with great qualities. It is much to be de-
sired that he should swim through the breakers and
carry his country safe into port." This is followed by the
enigmatic phrase: "I conclude that he has escaped one
danger by the refusal to naturalize Brougham; for it is
evident that our ex-Chancellor meant, if he had got him-
self elected, to have put up for being President of the
Republic. It is woeful to see a man who is so near being

1 Sir Theodore Martin, Life of the Prince Consort, vol. n, p. 35.

2 Ashley, Life of Lord Palmerston, vol. 1, p. 88. Despatch dated April 4,
1848.

. . 315 . .

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

a great man make himself so small." Yet, much as they
might admire the personal courage and honesty of La-
martine, British statesmen were little inclined to risk any
formal alliance with a government offering such scant
guarantees of stability. As Lord Brougham pertinently
put it, he felt only the confidence towards the men con-
stituting the Provisional Government in France that one
could place in men "dominated by the mob."

With these expressions of good-will and admiration for
his personal conduct, Lamartine had perforce to be con-
tent. Lord Palmerston accepted willingly the French
Minister's confidences, "mais uniquement pour en tirer
parti et, au besoin, pour le trahir," especially in Italy.1
As has been seen, Lamartine early realized the importance
of the events taking place south of the Alps, and insisted
on the formation of "an army of observation" on the
frontier of Piedmont. Great as his desire for neutrality
might be, it was indeed impossible for France to be an
indifferent spectator. Traditions, too strong for any
government to break, interested her in the relations of
Italy and Austria. Guizot's Italian policy had been to
maintain the status quo; but the Republic was more
likely to attack despotism in its Austrian stronghold and
free the Italians, whether they wished its help or not.
When war broke out, Lamartine made generous offers
to private individuals like Mazzini and Pepe, and asked
leave of the Turin Government to send a corps of ob-
servation across the Alps.2 But feeling in Italy was al-
most unanimous against accepting French help. Manin,
indeed, more far-seeing and less confident, would have
liked at least to have it secured in case of need ; but even
he dared go no farther than request the presence of French
vessels in the Adriatic. The royalists dreaded a republi-

1 Quentin-Bauchart, op. cit. (La politique ttrangere), p. 122.
8 Mazzini, Opere, vol. x, p. 66; Pepe, Events, vol. I, p. 39.

• • 316 • •

FOREIGN AND DOMESTIC POLICY

can ally; the republicans wished to see Italy win her own
laurels. None believed that France was single-hearted
in her offer; all were confident that the national resources
were sufficient for victory. Lamartine, indeed, some-
times urged action in despite of Italian wishes. He was
suspicious of a North Italian Kingdom, and thought that
French intervention might encourage the republicans of
Lombardy and Venetia, and claim its reward in the ces-
sion of Savoy and Nice.1 But the majority of the Exec-
utive Committee at Paris were opposed to interference
unless the Italians asked for it; and Lamartine, either
because his hands were tied or that his grandiloquent
programme melted away, returned nothing but empty
promises to Manin's appeals, and perhaps secretly agreed
to let Austria have Venetia.2 After the revolt of June
and Lamartine's retirement from office, his successor,
Bastide, was as reluctant as Lamartine to embark on
a policy in Italy which offered great risks. In reference
to Lamartine's proffered assistance, writing to his wife
from Paris, on September 19, 1848, the Marquis Giorgio
Pallavicino describes a conversation with General Su-
bervie concerning the policy adopted in Piedmont earlier
in the year: "I had to listen to more than one re-
proach on account of our refusal to accept the armed
intervention offered us by Monsieur Lamartine." 3 In
a previous conversation, Pallavicino had expressed to
Lamartine his regret that circumstances had caused his
retirement, saying that all Italy loved him for his gener-
ous programme, and regretting that he had not retained
power. "Yes," replied Lamartine, "it is a misfortune

1 Lamartine, Trois mois, pp. 232, 316; Garnier-Pages, Revolution, vol. I,
PP- 439~45; Bianchi, Diplomazia, vol. v, pp. 278-81, 292; Zini, Storia Docu-
ments, vol. 1, pp. 658-62.

2 Planat de la Faye, Documents, vol. 1, pp. 197, 211-14; Bolton King,
A History of Italian Unity, vol. I, p. 262.

3 Memorie di Giorgio Pallavicino, vol. 11, p. 18.

• • 317 ' '

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

for you that I could not remain in power. You ought to
love me, for I also love Italy very dearly. It is the land
of my imagination and of my heart."

How far Italy might have been permanently grateful
to Lamartine had circumstances permitted the evolu-
tion of his political programme in the peninsula is a ques-
tion open to considerable speculation. With the rest of
Europe, excepting possible but insignificant modifications
of the frontier on the Rhine, Lamartine had small con-
cern, but Italian affairs formed an important issue in the
conduct of the Lamartinian diplomacy. If the French
Minister did not seek to provoke issues, he certainly
sought to obtain for his country additional influence ; even
eventual territorial aggrandizement.1 The triple alliance
between republican France, constitutional Italy, and the
Swiss Confederation, which he meditated, would appear
to have had this end in view.2 Had circumstances per-
mitted his lending aid to Charles Albert, compensation
would unquestionably have been looked for in the cession
to France of Savoy and Nice ; thus anticipating by hardly
more than a decade the price paid by Piedmont for the
intervention of Napoleon III. His reply to a deputation
of Savoyards who came to offer their adhesion to the
Republic is characteristic. "Le gouvernement provi-
soire," he told them, "croit recevoir 1'hommage d'une
partie meme de la nation francaise." And, although he
dwelt on the desire of the Republic to maintain the
peace of Europe, he stated frankly that should that
peace be disturbed, France would "fly to their aid," and
that should the map of Europe be modified in conse-
quence, a fragment of that map would remain in their
united hands.3 Enigmatic as the phrase was, it left no

1 Quentin-Bauchart, op. cit. (La politique itranghe), p. 207.
* Cf. Memoires politiques, vol. in, p. 143.

1 Cf. La France parlementaire, vol. v, p. 220; cf. also Quentin-Bauchart,
op. cit., p. 272.

..3.8..

FOREIGN AND DOMESTIC POLICY

doubt whatever as to what the course would be should
the Republic be constrained to interfere in the struggle
between Piedmont and Austria. Yet, much as he might
desire the union with France of the French-speaking
populations of Savoy and Nice, Lamartine was, up to the
end of March, in no position to enforce a policy having
such far-reaching consequences. His pacific assurance to
the Austrian Ambassador in Paris, Count Apponyi, had
early elicited from the Emperor the statement that the
change of government in France would be regarded by
the Dual Monarchy as a domestic affair with which
Austria had no concern so long as existing European
treaties or the frontiers of the States of the Empire were
not menaced.1 This was at once a concession and a warn-
ing, and under existing circumstances Lamartine had
no choice but to follow in Guizot's footsteps and urge
moderation to the Italian liberals who sought to kindle
the firebrand and entangle France.2 The risks of a re-
actionary coalition on the part of the monarchical systems
of Continental Europe were still (in March) a factor to
be reckoned with. The situation was not yet ripe for the
action which Lamartine was to propose in May.3 For the
moment a patient diplomacy, having in view the main-
tenance of the political status quo, was all that could be
attempted.

It was in this spirit that he addressed the Poles, who
took the Hotel de Ville almost literally by storm, on
March 26. "The position of the Provisional Govern-
ment," writes Lord Normanby, "was more difficult upon
this than any other question of foreign policy, from the
absurd line taken by their predecessors. In every address
at the opening of the session, since the Revolution of

1 Cf. Gazette officielle of March 10; also Bianchi, Storia documentata delta
diplomazia europea in Italia, vol. v, p. 117.
* Cf. Quentin-Bauchart, op. cit., p. 211.
8 Cf. Garnier-Pages, op. cit., vol. vi, p. 389, et seq.

• • 319 • •

LIFE OF IAMARTINE

July, there has been inserted a paragraph expressing the
wishes of the Legislature for the restored nationality of
Poland. Therefore it was impossible that a young repub-
lic, could express less sympathy than the successive gov-
ernments of Louis- Philippe."1 Lamartine bitterly com-
plains of the continual agitation and insulting menaces
of the exiles who infested Paris, and admits that they
were at the root of many of the most perilous situations
he was called upon to face. To declare war on their be-
half against Prussia, Austria, and Russia would be, he
maintained, " a crusade for the deliverance of a sepul-
chre"; but in refusing the Government's aid he exposed
himself and his colleagues to the fury of the unthinking
and irresponsible mob which sympathized with the turbu-
lent foreigners, who had undoubted influence in the clubs
and a voice in all of the seditious movements generated
in these hot-beds of political intrigue.2

On March 25 a deputation from the clubs, composed al-
most entirely of these firebrands, appeared and insolently
assured Lamartine that they, the Poles, were more mas-
ters in Paris than he; that they had forty thousand
men in the Ateliers nationaux who were ready to march
with them on the morrow against the H6tel de Ville; and
that should the Government refuse to accede to their
demands, they were strong enough to upset them.
Knowing that French demagogues made use of these
hot-headed rebels to intimidate the Government and
people alike, Lamartine, far from allowing himself to be
dictated to, accepted the challenge. He warned his hear-
ers, however, that should their deputation on the morrow
degenerate into a manifestation, and a single Frenchman
be found in their ranks, he would treat them no longer

1 Normanby, op. cit., vol. I, p. 271.

• Cf. Metnoires politiques, vol. in, p. 225; also S. Wassermann, Les Clubs
de Barbes el de Blanqui en 1848, passim.

• • 320 • •

FOREIGN AND DOMESTIC POLICY

as guests of the Nation, "mais en perturbateurs de la
France." l Considerable anxiety prevailed as to the out-
come. The occasion might afford the pretext for one
of those embarrassing international demonstrations the
Government was particularly anxious to avoid, in view
of the insecurity of its position at home. But as usual
Lamartine steered a felicitous middle course, skilfully
gliding over the troubled waters, and evading the jagged
rocks of definite promises, while holding out alluring
prospects of the universal satisfaction the Republic was
to dispense. A critical reading of his speech must have
failed to convince the most optimistic disciple of the
political school he represented: yet such was the magic
of his spoken words that the turbulent mob which had
assembled to refute his utterances dispersed midst loud
cries of "Vive Lamartine," "Vive la Republique."

We look in vain on March 26 for evidences of the
"extreme anxiety," the "waning of his star," which
Daniel Stern asserts was discernible in his words and
actions after the hostile demonstration of the 17th.2 On
the contrary, the address to the Poles is representative
of Lamartine's almost incredible personal assurance: his
firm belief that his ascendancy was based on no mere
"enchantment of the imagination" of his hearers, but on
his power to carry conviction by the sheer weight of the
irrefutable arguments he advanced.3

But victories such as that which Lamartine achieved
on March 17 were short-lived. Ever and anon the revo-
lutionary clubs and their sympathizers sought fresh oc-
casions to embarrass and discredit the Government. The
elections, on which Lamartine counted to establish
legally and definitely the acceptance throughout France
of the Republic the Parisian populace had decreed, were

1 Memoires politiques, vol. in, p. 227. » Stern, op. cit., vol. 11, p. 283.
8 Cf. La France parlementaire, vol. v, p. 221.

• . 321 • •

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

fixed for April 23. ! But between the present and that
date stretched a period of fearful anxiety and ever-
increasing uncertainty. Dupont de l'Eure, the nominal
head of the Government, was too old to take an active
part in affairs, and it was consequently to Lamartine that
his colleagues looked for the daily, nay, hourly, renewal
of the miracles his eloquence achieved when arguing with
the numerous delegations of disgruntled foreigners or
clamorous representatives of the various trades.2 With
nothing more substantial to back him than "la force
morale de la parole," as he assured the Prince de Ligne,
the Belgian Minister, the task of maintaining order was
indeed an arduous one.3 A fertile and continually recur-
ring pretext for street agitation was found in the plant-
ing of trees of Liberty throughout the town. Such mani-
festations often degenerated into drunken brawls, for it
became the custom to levy tribute on the whole neigh-
bourhood, the money being spent on drink. Even the
clergy was pressed into the service of the mob, the trees
being blessed with half-barbaric rites, more or less dic-
tated by the demagogues who invariably attended the
ceremony. Between March 17 and April 10 there was a
veritable orgy of this popular distraction, which, osten-
sibly harmless enough, frequently gave rise to dangerous
forms of social unrest.4 The abuse of these functions, to
which in the beginning the Government had unhesitat-
ingly subscribed, finally led to the necessity of "request-
ing" all "good citizens" to refrain from the practice.6
Of course even this mild interference of the Provisional
Government was exploited by the clubs as an indication

1 Originally fixed for April 9, but postponed owing to Ledru-Rollin's
plea of the impossibility of completing arrangements.

2 Cf. Barthou, Lamartine orateur, p. 256.

* Normanby, op. cit., vol. I, p. 237.

* Cf. Victor Pierre, Histoire de la republique de 1848, vol. I, p. 186.

* Cf. L. Gallois, Histoire de la republique de 1848, vol. I, p. 273.

. . 322 • •

FOREIGN AND DOMESTIC POLICY

of the reactionary policy Lamartine was determined to
pursue.

Perhaps this misinterpretation of his ulterior motives
was one of the principal causes which urged Lamartine
to a course, perilous under any circumstances, but par-
ticularly hazardous for one in the uncertain position he
occupied. Personal intercourse with the most violent and
anarchical leaders of the clubs, and, moreover, secret
intercourse in which his colleagues in the Provisional
Government had no share, could only lead to one sup-
position. A subordinate in the Ministry of the Interior,
M. Elias Regnault,1 published in 1850, a "History of the
Provisional Government," which, if biased, constitutes,
nevertheless, a valuable document. His appreciations
of Lamartine's character and actions are not devoid of
psychological and historical interest. A warm, ever-en-
thusiastic admirer of the poet-statesman's heroic atti-
tude when face to face with the threatening mob, he does
not hesitate to criticize or to blame his political conduct.
"When the tribune is no longer in the forum, when the
high priest descends from the altar and mingles with the
difficulties of political life, he becomes blurred and di-
minished. M. Lamartine, in his struggles on the public
square, was heroic and sublime; M. Lamartine, in his
private contests with the Provisional Government, was
weak and equivocal." 2 The critic substantiates his asser-
tions as follows: "To M. Marrast, he blamed M. Ledru-
Rollin's revolutionary excesses; to M. Ledru-Rollin, he
complained of M. Marrast's supineness. For each he
had a good word, as also for every plan that held out
promise. He flattered the National Guard, and caressed
Blanqui; he spared Sobrier, and cajoled Caussidiere.

1 M. Regnault was Ledru-Rollin's "chef de cabinet"; in other words,
chief clerk.

2 Regnault, op. cit., p. 132.

. . 323 • •

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

Placed on the apex of contentions, he delighted in the
power this intermediary situation afforded for turning
the scales: eager, moreover, to calm storms, and to act
as a counterpoise and a pacificator, yet always with
sufficient reserve that each expected to find in him the
auxiliary of the morrow." There is certainly a grain of
truth in this appreciation, as well as in the sentence which
follows: "What seduced him most in the acquisition of
power was the faculty it bestowed of pardon, of generos-
ity, of the opportunity to show fine sentiment. Less
anxious to found the future than to conquer the past by
virtue of disinterestedness and abnegation, he trans-
mogrified politics into a species of chivalry, more poetic
than practical: permissible when only personal interests
are sacrificed, but blameworthy when the public weal is
at stake." 1

Idealistic Lamartine's policy certainly was at times,
but enough evidence has been afforded the reader to
form an appreciation of the practical basis on which the
ideals were founded. In the present issue Lamartine had
ample warrant for the assertion that the choice of but
two means was open to him : force and negotiation. Force,
at the best but an uncertain asset founded on the co-
operation of the troops General Negrier held together in
the North at Lille, was to be thought of only as a last
resource, should anarchy drive the Government from
Paris. Negotiation, both in the heart of the Government
and with those subversive elements which sought to oust
and replace the Provisional Government, might at least
serve to prolong the status quo until the elections.2
Lamartine considered (and events proved that he was
correct) that his best chance of success lay in this direc-
tion.

That his efforts should be misjudged and misrepre-

1 Regnault, op. cit., p. 133. ' Cf. Memoires politiques, vol. ill, p. 204.
• • 324 • •

FOREIGN AND DOMESTIC POLICY

sented was a foregone conclusion, for the jealousies and
rivalries surrounding him were irreconcilable with any
form of personal influence. During the inquest which
investigated the acts of the Provisional Government,
Lamartine was, indeed, accused of conspiracy with well-
known anarchists and communistic leaders of the most
violent clubs. "Yes! I conspired with them," he haugh-
tily exclaimed; "but as the lightning-rod conspires with
the thunderbolt." Could he win over these dangerous
firebrands to moderation, could he prevail with them and
lead them to accept the Republic on the lines laid down
in his "Manifesto," he would be master of the situation
through the influence of the very men who sought to
paralyze and throttle Liberty by the exercise of terrorism
and the dictatorship of irresponsible and blood-thirsty
demagogues. Audacious as the scheme appeared, there is
reason for the belief that had it not been attempted the
position of the Provisional Government must have be-
come intolerable, and the elections which were to legiti-
mize the new form of popular government must have been
frustrated. Civil war, probably a European conflagra-
tion, hung in the balance.1 What M. Louis Barthou terms
"la dictature de la persuasion" 2 was well worth the
effort.

Blanqui, Barbes, Cabet, Raspail, and the mulatto De
Flotte were at that moment the most prominent and
influential leaders in the subversive movement directed
against the party of order which sought to establish the
Republic on a firm legal basis in accordance with the free
and untrammelled expression of public opinion through-
out France. These men Lamartine decided to see, and,
if possible, convert to a more liberal and comprehensive
view of the Republic and the duties and obligations of
citizenship. Of course, he was fully informed of what

1 Memoires politiques, vol. in, p. 207. 2 Lamartine orateur, p. 236.
. . 325 • .

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

went on in the clubs over which they held sway : Sobrier,
the head of his private police, saw to that. Lamartine
himself acknowledges in his "Memoires politiques" that
each member of the Government found it necessary to
maintain an armed force for individual protection." *
Even under these conditions it required not only moral
but physical courage to expose himself to the perils of
personal contact with one or the other of the fanatics,
who, public rumour had it, were determined to get rid
of him.

Yet Lamartine did not hesitate. At six o'clock one
morning Blanqui, accompanied by a couple of men of
sinister aspect, presented himself at the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs and asked to see the Minister. Always an
early riser, Lamartine was astir, but only partially dressed.
When Blanqui entered the room he advanced with bared
breast and extended hand, exclaiming: "Well, Monsieur
Blanqui, have you come to knife me? The hour is pro-
pitious and the occasion favourable. As you see, I have
no cuirass." But Blanqui entertained no such fell de-
sign, and the two were soon deep in earnest converse
concerning their respective theories of popular govern-
ment. Lamartine admits that in the beginning he did
the talking and Blanqui contented himself with listening.
But towards the end of the interview the leader of the
"Club des Clubs" would appear, according to Lamar-
tine's record of the conversation, to have agreed with his
interlocutor that "theories were but theories, and rec-
ognized that no immediate realization was possible out-
side the lines of guaranteed proprietary and acquired
rights"; repudiating, in fact, the anarchical principles
with which he was credited by the masses.2 The date of

1 Op.cit., p. 212. For curious details cf. Mimoircs de Caussidihre,$ vols.,
passim.

* Memoires politiques, vol. m, p. 219.

• • 326 • •

FOREIGN AND DOMESTIC POLICY

this mysterious interview is uncertain : Lamartine, never
chronologically accurate, states that it took place be-
tween the end of March and the beginning of April. It
probably followed one which Blanqui had with Ledru-
Rollin, and was prior to the publication in the "Re-
vue Retrospective," on March 31, 1848, of the famous
Taschereau documents which branded Blanqui a traitor
to the cause he was supposed to uphold.1 Be this as it
may, Lamartine admits that from this moment he did
not cease in his efforts of maintaining friendly relations
with the different parties who sought to direct the public
conscience. His endeavour was invariably the same —
"the convocation and acceptance by the people of Paris
of the National Assembly."

1 Cf. Wassermann, Les Clubs de Barbfc et de Blanqui en 1848, p. 107;
also Gamier-Pages, Histoire de la revolution de 1848, vol. iv, p. 91. Quentin-
Bauchart (op. cit., p. 266) gives reason for the belief that this famous inter-
view (postponed at least once by Lamartine) took place only a few days
before the demonstration of April 16. Cf. also pamphlet which Blanqui
published in 1848 in his own defence, entitled Reponse du citoyen A . Blanqui.
The only evidence we possess is that of Lamartine and Blanqui. Garnier-
Pages (op. cit., vol. iv, p. 211) places the interview during the first days of
April, but his testimony is evidently based on Lamartine's account in his
Histoire de la revolution de 1848. Evidences of Blanqui's guilt are numerous
in the Souvenirs of Edmond Bire, who gives a minute account of the Docu-
ments Taschereau. Cf. p. 71.

CHAPTER XLVI
THE SIXTEENTH OF APRIL

As the date fixed for the elections approached, the
seething activity of the Clubs redoubled and their number
increased. The statistics published by the commission
appointed to investigate the events of May and June
cite one hundred and forty-seven clubs on March 30,
1848; Gamier- Pages affirms that the number soon
reached three hundred ; and Lucas states that in less than
a month two hundred and fifty were added, and that the
total attained four hundred and fifty.1 Although many
of these institutions were ephemeral, sometimes merely
electoral confabulations or temporary associations held
together by more or less material interests, a certain per-
centage claimed the dignity of politico-social bodies
regularly constituted for the enforcement of the ideals
they represented.

The Government, as has been seen, was divided. The
minority, fearing, or professing to fear, a snare for the
reestablishment of the monarchical system, and hypno-
tized by the turbulent popularity of prominent commu-
nistic tribunes in the more powerful clubs, sought to
counterbalance the influence possessed by their col-
leagues of the majority (of which Lamartine was the
acknowledged leader) by an ever closer association with
the men who regarded the advent of a legally elected
National Assembly as the death-knell of their reign.
Lamartine, in spite of the nefarious intrigues of Ledru-
Rollin, which, as a matter of fact, he had neutralized by

1 Cf. Wassermann, op. cit., p. 2; also Garnier-Pages, op. d/., vol. IV,
p. 123, and Caussidiere, Mcmoires, vol. 1, p. 165.

• • 328 • •

THE SIXTEENTH OF APRIL

personal contact with members of the extreme parties,
still held the situation well in hand during the early
days of April. But the tension was becoming ever more
dangerous. Even the "National" party, which had so
largely contributed to his accession to power and his
stability in office (if, indeed, such terms can be applied
to the precarious position he held), aware of his rap-
prochement with such revolutionists as Blanqui, Barbes,
and Cabet, was now showing signs of irritation and sus-
picion.1 That Lamartine had been deeply impressed by
the demonstration of March 17 there can be no question.
Yet it would be dangerous and unfair to accept unhesi-
tatingly the theory that, despairing of success with the
moderates, he was ready to throw in his lot with the ex-
tremists.2 It is much more probable that, still cherishing
his illusions concerning his personal weight with both
parties, he was determined to push his efforts for con-
ciliation to the utmost limits, even at the risk of com-
promising himself. Proof of equivocal double-dealing
there is none, in spite of the accusations levelled against
him by enemies and former friends, who detected in his
actions exorbitant personal ambition. To the impartial
historian, however, Lamartine is entitled to the benefit
of the doubt. Moreover, his fidelity and loyalty, when
the hour of reckoning came, to the companions who had
shared with him the peril and anguish of those months
of responsibility clothed with the mere travesty of power,
is, or ought to be, conclusive evidence of his innocence.
This steadfast loyalty was alone the cause of his political
undoing.3

Eager as he was to secure harmony between the con-
flicting political and social elements struggling for su-

1 Quentin-Bauchart, op. cit. (La politique interieure), p. 242.

2 Ibid., p. 264.

3 "Cela suffit pour l'abattre," wrote an eye-witness who knew him well.
Jules Simon, Quatre portraits, p. 40.

• • 329 • •

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

premacy, Lamartine, despite his illusions, fully realized
that the support of an adequate and regular military
force could alone guarantee the maintenance of order.
It was to the formation of a body of armed citizens, who
should be hand in hand with the regulars at his disposal,
that he now concentrated his effort. The task was no
light one. Insubordination and desertions had weakened
the moral tone of the remnant of the army which, in the
provinces, still upheld the Republic. The clubs had in-
sidiously undermined discipline in the ranks and ren-
dered dubious the allegiance of many officers as well.
The intrigues of the party of the "National" had forced
General Subervie's resignation in spite of Lamartine's
protection, and the scientist, Francois Arago, had suc-
ceeded him. Assisted by a board of several generals,
Arago soon proved himself a thoroughly efficient organ-
izer and a valuable administrator.1

Although Lamartine left technical details to the Min-
ister of War and his advisers, he appears to have exer-
cised a close surveillance over this department. To his
influence was due, against the opinion of the Military
Board, the recall to France from Algeria of twenty-seven
thousand men.2 Desirous, moreover, that at all costs
Paris be saved from becoming the prey of the irrecon-
cilable extremists in the clubs, he proposed the forma-
tion of three hundred battalions of Gardes Mobiles, in
the capital and neighbourhood, all armed and equipped,
disciplined and trained, but to be subject to call only in
case of imminent peril or the menace of internecine strife.3
Owing largely to the support of Flocon, this measure
was adopted by his colleagues, and proved of inesti-
mable value in the hour of stress.4 Convinced that he

1 Cf. Gamier-Pages, op. tit., vol. m, p. 237.

1 Ibid., vol. iv, p. 38; cf. also Quentin-Bauchart, op. tit., p. 270.

1 Lamartine, Histoire de la rSvolution de 1848, p. 274.

' Memoires politiques, vol. in, p. 361.

330

THE SIXTEENTH OF APRIL

himself would be the first victim of a popular uprising
in the capital, and fully prepared to make the sacrifice
of his life, Lamartine hoped that, through the inter-
vention of the provinces, his death would at least be
the signal for the triumph of the ideals which he rep-
resented.1

To secure the efficiency of his project and guarantee
the safety and independence of the National Assembly
which was to meet on May 4, the cooperation of a reliable
and capable military commander was imperative. To
Lamartine, General Cavaignac, then Governor-General
of the African colonies, seemed the man possessing the
necessary requirements, and when his negotiations were
finally crowned with success, he acknowledges that a
load was lifted from his shoulders, and that he advanced
"avec plus de confiance vers l'inconnu." 2 It was, indeed,
the unknown that confronted him. A little over a fort-
night separated the tottering and beleaguered Provi-
sional Government from Easter Sunday, April 27.
Would that date be reached in safety? Would it be given
Lamartine to hand over to the National Assembly even
the semblance of power he still enjoyed? Through his
secret police, and the warnings of friends who penetrated
the recesses of the most clandestine subversive associa-
tions, Lamartine was made to realize the peril.

Louis Blanc and Albert, who ruled supreme at the Lux-
embourg over thirty or forty thousand workmen of the
Ateliers nationaux, were known to be hatching trouble.
During a stormy session on April 14, these leaders
made it clear to their colleagues that they believed them-
selves the masters of the situation. No attempt was
made on their part to conceal the project, two days later,
of an immense manifestation of the proletariat to secure
the adjournment of the elections and the redress of cer-
1 Memoires politiques, vol. in, p. 267. * Ibid., p. 264.

• • 331 ' '

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

tain grievances anent the selection of officers in the
National Guard. Nor did the ringleaders hesitate to
affirm that the result of this manifestation would be the
"epuration" of the existing Government through the
elimination of certain prominent members of the ma-
jority, and the adjunction in their stead of several chiefs
of clubs, thus converting the present minority into an
effective majority. A Committee of Public Safety was
even hinted at; this committee to exercise supreme
authority until such time as it might deem expedient to
assemble a convention. Lamartine asserts that his col-
leagues were more "indignant than astonished." 1 He
had, of course, expected trouble. But even now he could
not bring himself to believe in treachery. Yet, realizing
that Blanc and Albert undoubtedly possessed more
authority than he over the elements so directly under
their control, he adjured them "with real pain, but with
a purposely exaggerated profusion of energetic epithets,"
to use all the moral suasion at their command to prevent
a demonstration "so odious to the provinces, so threaten-
ing for the peace of Paris, and so fatal to the Republic."

Needless to say, his efforts were vain. Blanc and
Albert listened with feigned solicitude to his expostula-
tions, professed compliance, but returned on the morrow
to inform the Minister for Foreign Affairs that their
intervention with the leaders and organizers of the
proposed manifestation had proved sterile. Hastily the
members of the majority of the Government concerted
measures likely to insure at least the temporary safety
of the institutions they represented. The first clanging
of the tocsin-bell at the Hotel de Ville was to be the sig-
nal for the assembling of armed citizens steadfast in their
allegiance to the Government of their choice. Lamartine
determined to himself take command at the Hotel de

1 Memoires politiques, vol. ill, p. 270.
. . 332 • •

THE SIXTEENTH OF APRIL

Ville, and there sacrifice his life, if necessary, in defence
of the trust he had assumed. Having burnt all compro-
mising papers, he sought a few hours' rest. Hardly had
he fallen asleep, however, before his emissaries, who had
attended the meetings of various clubs, insisted on being
admitted to his presence. They brought alarming tidings.
The clubs had decreed permanent sessions, and were re-
solved, having obtained arms, to convoke the dissentient
elements of the populace on the Champs de Mars next
day. At least one hundred thousand malcontents of all
classes of society were expected to respond to their call
to arms. At midday this vast army, swelled en route
by the floating elements ever in search of agitation,
would march to the Hotel de Ville, storm the stronghold
of the Government, decimate the majority, remove such
members as Lamartine, Marie, Gamier- Pages, Marrast,
even old Dupont de l'Eure, and place their own leaders,
terrorists and social extremists for the most part, in their
stead. Strangely enough, Blanqui was included in the
holocaust, for he was, as Lamartine puts it, "the terror of
terrorists less popular or less audacious than he,"1 and
consequently feared and suspected, especially since the
publication of the Taschereau documents. Nevertheless,
according to information received by Lord Normanby,
Blanqui was to assist, with all his club, in the proposed
revolutionary attack, and "at the Club, on Saturday
night (the 15th), most violent language was used, espe-
cially against Lamartine."2

Fortunately the leaders of the clubs were soon them-
selves at loggerheads. Ledru-Rollin's dictatorship was
no longer unanimously accepted, although his coopera-
tion was deemed indispensable. It became evident that
he was to be used as a cat's-paw by those directing the

1 Histoire de la revolution de 1848, vol. 11, p. 314.

2 Normanby, op. ciL, vol. 1, p. 320.

333

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

insurrectionary movement, and that he would be dis-
carded once the object was achieved.1 The Minister of
the Interior himself realized that, in so far as his undis-
puted personal ambitions were concerned, the game was
up. Was it on this account, and in order to save what
prestige still remained to him, that he came to Lamartine
at dawn of the fateful 16th of April? Lamartine was
aware of the doubtful behaviour of his colleague ; yet he
seems to have believed him incapable of actual treach-
ery. At all events, he disclaims surprise when Ledru-
Rollin appeared protesting that his name had been
usurped and made use of against his will by the factious
leaders, and professing his determination to die side by
side with his colleagues. "In a few hours," stammered
the terror-stricken man, "we shall be attacked by over
one hundred thousand rioters. What course shall we
adopt? I come to take counsel with you, because I know
you keep your sang-froid in the face of popular risings, and
that desperate situations do not cause you to flinch." 2

To this appeal Lamartine replied that but one course
was open to them, and that not a minute was to be lost.
"Go at once," he added, "and order the troops to be in
readiness. As Minister of the Interior you are authorized
to call the National Guard to arms. I will arouse the
Mobile, and shut myself up with them in the Hotel de
Ville, and there await the insurrectionary hordes. Either
the National Guard will refuse to answer the summons,
the City Hall will be stormed, and I shall perish at my
post, or the call to arms will be responded to, and the
fusillade being heard, the troops will rush to my relief,
and will entrap the rebels between two fires, deliver the
Government, and thus establish the physical force the
Republic has such need of. I am prepared for either

1 Garnier-Pag^s, op. cit., vol. rv, p. 345.

* Lamartine, Histoirc de la revolution de 1848, vol. 11, p. 316.

. . 334 . .

THE SIXTEENTH OF APRIL

contingency." l Mistrusting, however, the alacrity with
which Ledru-Rollin might be expected to carry out the
measures he had proposed, Lamartine determined, in so
far as in his power lay, to take matters into his own
hands. Without delay he proceeded to Headquarters to
urge General Courtais to action. He then secured a sup-
ply of ammunition and hastened to make preparations
for the siege he expected in the H6tel de Ville.

Meanwhile, General Changarnier, recently named Am-
bassador at Berlin, called at the Foreign Office, and, at
the request of Madame de Lamartine, rushed to the aid
of her husband. Lamartine gratefully acknowledges the
invaluable services rendered him by the General, whom
an eye-witness (Lord Normanby) believes to have been
the saviour of the situation, as he found both Lamartine
and Marrast (Mayor of Paris) "courageous but hope-
less." It was the General who persuaded Marrast to
issue immediately orders for the assemblage of the Na-
tional Guard. "Men on horseback were despatched at
once with these orders to the twelve different mairies,
and such was the zeal and alacrity shown by the Na-
tional Guard in all quarters of the town, that though it
was half-past twelve before the orders left the Hotel de
Ville, yet before two o'clock, the hour at which the pop-
ular demonstration was to march from the Champ de
Mars, one hundred and thirty thousand men, in and out
of uniform, were under arms, and above fifty thousand
bayonets assembled round the H6tel de Ville. The orders
by which they debouched there from different quarters
were superintended by General Changarnier, who, though
without any command, and in plain clothes, under-
took the military arrangements under the authority of
M. Lamartine." 2

Lamartine's own version of the episode, although it
1 Cf. also Normanby, op. cit., vol. I, p. 322. * Ibid., p. 324.

. . 335 . .

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

is much more copious in detail, tallies accurately with
the British Ambassador's notes. Both would appear to
have entertained serious doubts as to Ledru-Rollin's
loyalty; and this feeling of suspicion was shared by
Changarnier. It was only after the magnificent response
of the National Guard to the summons issued that
Lamartine, "henceforth certain that the Minister of the
Interior had himself given the order, and committed
himself to the cause of unity and integrity of the Govern-
ment," * felt at liberty to insist, in his speeches, on the
collective action of his colleagues. Lord Normanby
states that on his arrival at the Hotel de Ville, Chan-
garnier found Lamartine and Marrast entirely without
resource of any kind, fully expecting to be massacred, and
awaiting the event without intending to make any fur-
ther effort.2 This is doubtful, however, and not in accord
with Lamartine's account of the preparations he had
made. Moreover, Stern, generally reliable, asserts that
early on the morning of the 16th, Marrast had issued
secret orders to the various mairies that the National
Guard be held in readiness in case of need.3 Although in
no sense detracting from the value of Changarnier's
splendid services, Lamartine's forethought is patent in
all accounts given of the episode. Nevertheless, both
he and Marrast undoubtedly passed through some hours
of intense mental anguish and apprehension before relief
came.

Meanwhile the Champ de Mars was rapidly filling up.
But the majority of those who flocked to the meeting
there had no knowledge of the real object of their lead-
ers, believing solely in its reference to the election of
officers in the National Guard. Between eleven and

1 Lamartine, MSmoires politiques, vol. m, p. 283.

2 Normanby, op. cit., vol. 1, p. 333.

8 Histoire de la revolution de 1848, vol. 11, p. 297.

• • 336 • •

THE SIXTEENTH OF APRIL

twelve o'clock the crowd mustered some thirty or forty
thousand strong. Harangues were made which soon
rendered the aims of the leaders clear, and although many
were prepared for action, when the measures adopted
by the Government leaked out, and it became known
that the rappel had been sounded and responded to by
the National Guard, enthusiasm waned. Little by little
the forty-odd thousand were reduced by half, many
honest workingmen hurrying off to take their places in
the ranks and to stand by the Provisional Government.1
Appreciating the danger of temporizing further, the
chiefs decided to march at once with the remnant of
their ' ' army " upon the Hotel de Ville. En route a certain
number of idlers and fanatics swelled the procession, but
when at two o'clock it reached the Quai du Louvre, its
ranks had not materially increased, for all along the line
of march, as the real situation became more clear, deser-
tions were frequent. At this point the invading column
was blanketed by two legions of the Garde Nationale,
and a few paces farther on the ranks were cut. In drib-
lets the manifestants oozed through the intervening
files of soldiers, struggling individually now to reach
their goal.2

Lamartine, who with Marrast was the only member
of the Government present until four o'clock, was inde-
fatigable in his efforts to stimulate the loyalty and energy
of those who had flocked to the rescue. Now from the
windows, now in the courtyards or on the staircases of
the Hotel de Ville, he ceaselessly harangued deputations
from all the military bodies, or civilians who offered
service. The backbone of the insurrectionary movement
was broken, but the alarm had been widespread and the

1 Garnier-Pages, op. cit., vol. rv, chap, vni, passim.

2 Cf. Lamartine, Histoire de la revolution de 1848, vol. II, p. 328, and
Quentin-Bauchart, op. cit., p. 282.

. . 337 . .

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

peril real. The twenty thousand insurgents of the Champ
de Mars, cornered on the quais, were still filing crest-
fallen between the serried ranks massed on the Place de
Greve. Amidst the jeers and banter of the populace
the stream gradually diminished, to lose itself within
the secrecy of the clubs.1

When Louis Blanc finally came bustling up to the
H6tel de Ville and found Lamartine receiving the vari-
ous deputations, he expostulated loudly, asking whether
he (Lamartine) considered himself "above the Govern-
ment; and inquired why all that unnecessary force had
been displayed. Lamartine recommended silence to
M. Blanc, as, if he provoked him to speak, he might find
that he knew things which he would wish concealed, and
M. Blanc submitted, without reply, to the insinuation."2
M. Louis Blanc was "lacking in political instinct," writes
Daniel Stern; and the part he played on April 16 cer-
tainly bears out the assertion. His feelings may be
better imagined than described when the vociferations
of the legions of National Guards smote his ears. "A bas
Blanqui! A bas Louis Blanc! A bas Cabet! A l'eau les
communistes ! " they yelled. And a mighty roar from
thousands of loyal troops made the city ring with the
echoes of "Vive Lamartine! Vive la Republique!" s

"M. de Lamartine n'entend rien a la politique, ne s'en
m§lera pas, laissera faire," had been Ledru-Rollin's ar-
gument with his fellow-conspirators. Yet the Minister
for Foreign Affairs, in spite of his generous illusions, had
been a match for his colleagues in the game they sought
to play. "Ce fut le plus beau jour de ma vie politique,"
wrote Lamartine when describing the episodes of that

1 Lamartine, Histoire de la revolution de 1848, vol. 11, p. 330.

2 Normanby, op. cit., vol. I, p. 325; cf. Lamartine {Histoire de la rfoolu~
tion de 1848, vol. 11, p. 331), who mentions Albert as arriving with Blanc
and confesses having lost his temper during the interview.

* Stern, op. cit., vol. 11, pp. 277 and 301.

• • 338 • •

THE SIXTEENTH OF APRIL

fateful crisis; and he adds optimistically: "Le monde
social etait retrouve," meaning that to the party of order,
which he represented, must be attributed the victory.
Well might he feel satisfaction over the revulsion of pub-
lic opinion against conspirators and demagogues, for it
had been spontaneous and sincere. The response of the
National Guard was a magnificent triumph, and lent
colour to the belief that the worst was over. Moreover,
his personal prestige with the members of the Govern-
ment had been immeasurably increased, and all looked
to him for their personal as well as the public salvation.
Normanby affirms that during the march past of the
Guard, his colleagues insisted on his presence in their
midst, "lest their reception by that body should not be
favourable."1 The Ambassador adds: "My own im-
pression, derived from all I heard and all I saw myself
yesterday, is that the plot, whatever it was, has pro-
duced a very imposing demonstration in behalf of the
cause of order and regular government; and that it was
principally useful in restoring to the National Guards a
consciousness of their force, showing at the same time
an excellent spirit on behalf of those who had been lately
added to that body." But the perspicacious diplomatist
foresaw that Lamartine's personal position was, and
must remain for the next few weeks, "one of great dan-
ger, exposed as he is to the concentrated hostility and
hatred of the defeated ultra-revolutionary party."

None realized more fully than Lamartine the peril of
strife within the Council Chamber. On this, as on other
occasions, he sought, not to isolate himself, but, on the
contrary, to identify his policy with that of his colleagues,
and, at least in public, to show a united front. This unity
he insisted upon in each of the numerous speeches he
made before the deputations which flocked to the Hotel

1 Normanby, op. cit., vol. I, p. 326.
• • 339 . .

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

de Ville. To one and all he proclaimed the harmony
reigning in the bosom of the Government. "Cette union
est le symbole de celle de tous les citoyens," he assured
Chateaurenaud, spokesman of the National Guard,
carefully avoiding any word or hint of reproach or sus-
picion concerning any member of the Provisional Gov-
ernment.1

It has been said, and not without substantial reason,
that Lamartine did not possess, politically speaking, a
very fine sense of values. Undeniably the more subtle
shades of the science of politics often escaped him, for he
was himself too whole-hearted and sincere always to de-
tect the Machiavelism practised by his opponents. "Le
sens politique est le sens des generalites," affirms Prince
von Biilow, himself no mean exponent of the instinct.2 If
he be correct, Lamartine was a shining example of politi-
cal sagacity, for he certainly possessed the instinct of
generalities, however lacking he may have been in the
minutiae of that complicated science. Therein lay at once
his strength and his weakness : his strength on account of
the instinctive and comprehensive grasp it gave him of a
situation; his weakness because ignorance or disdain of
detail often put him at the mercy of antagonists less tran-
scendent but infinitely more practical. But if wit and
humour form a part of the "sens politique," as they are
generally supposed to in Anglo-Saxon lands, it must be
confessed that Lamartine was inadequately equipped.
"Seul l'esprit lui faisait defaut," admits M. Barthou in
his admirable analytical study of "Lamartine orateur." 3
Daniel Stern also acknowledges that the essentially
French quality termed "esprit," which for want of a
better term is translated "wit," was foreign to Lamar-
tine's mode of thought. He never employed it in debate,

1 Cf. Trois mots au pouvoir, Addresses on April 16.

* La politique allemande, p. 134. 3 Op. cit., p. 324.

340

THE SIXTEENTH OF APRIL

nor did he recognize its value. Himself mentally incapa-
ble of either irony or persiflage in political repartee, he
ignored it in others. Much as he admired the sonorous
eloquence of the great British parliamentary orators,
especially Chatham, whom he styled "le poete supreme
de la parole politique," he was temperamentally dis-
qualified from appreciating their telling raillery. Cicero
was his hero.1 M. Barthou discerns in the portrait he has
painted of him the reflection of his own personality: "Ce
portrait de Ciceron n'est-il pas, dans ses traits essentiels,
celui de Lamartine?"2 Most students of the great poet-
orator's career will not hesitate to endorse this surmise.
Lamartine's parliamentary eloquence was characterized
by extreme courtesy. When he contradicted his an-
tagonist his dissent was clothed in terms of the most
exquisite politeness. Somewhat verbose, the develop-
ment of his argument was gradual; his natural dignity
forbade explosions of anger or impulsive retort. But this
moderation was more apparent than real, for, although
never passionate or violent, he could, on occasion, crush
his opponent beneath the sheer weight of serried phrases ;
bewildering him in the mazes of many-sided points of
view, and carrying his hearers with him by the fascina-
tion of his elocution. As some one has very significantly
remarked: "II agissait sur son auditoire par succession
reguliere d'idees et de sentiments, non par deduction
geometrique."

1 Cf . Cours de litterature, vol. XI, Entretien lxii.
8 Lamartine orateur, p. 324.

CHAPTER XL VII
THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY

Effective as their victory had been, the Provisional
Government realized the necessity of consolidating their
authority in the eyes of France and of Europe by a dis-
play of the martial forces at their disposal. The desire for
a demonstration of loyalty would appear to have been
reciprocal. The National Guard, the battalions of the
Garde Mobile, and the regulars were one and all eager
to prove their fidelity, and thereby confound the sub-
versive elements recent events had temporarily cowed.
The "Revue de la Fraternite," as the parade was styled,
fixed for April 21, was undertaken in this spirit.1

Early in the morning the members of the Government
ranged themselves on the stand erected at the foot of the
Arc de Triomphe, and the impressive march past began.
Fourteen hours were not sufficient, says Lamartine, to
allow the prodigious tide of soldiers and civic delegations
to file past. The enthusiasm, according to the same
writer, amounted to delirium, and to Lamartine was ad-
dressed the lion's share of applause and vivas which rang
out from the three hundred and fifty thousand throats of
the multitude which did homage to the hero of the day.2
There could be no question of the personal popularity he
enjoyed, in spite of Lord Normanby's impression that the
reception of his colleagues had been "very cold." s Yet
even the cautious British Ambassador notes that upon
the whole "the result ought to inspire confidence in the
maintenance of order, if the majority of the Provisional

1 Cf. Lamartine, Histoire de la revolution de 1848, vol. 11, p. 334.
* Ibid., p. 338. 3 Normanby, op. cit., vol. I, p. 335.

. . 342 • •

THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY

Government know how to avail themselves of the ad-
vantages which the existing disposition of the great body
of the population seems to place at their disposal."
Lamartine was fully alive to the advantages as well as
the perils of the situation, knowing as he did that danger
lurked as much within the bosom of the Council as in
the street.

His fears were, indeed, well grounded. The minority
in face of their recent discomfiture sought every means
of regaining popularity by the enactment of radical
measures calculated to appease the malcontents in the
clubs. Decrees were often obtained only after stormy
scenes and the threats of the minority to resign should
their revolutionary measures be rejected. This was the
case when, contrary to their better judgment, the Gov-
ernment yielded to exorbitant taxation of the rich,
amounting almost to sumptuary laws ; wholesale dismiss-
als from the magistracy, and the forced resignations of
sixty-five generals and numerous officers. The adoption
of the red flag was even mooted afresh.1

Measures for the safety of the Government, minority
as well as majority, were not forgotten. Among such
must be reckoned the decree ordering the arrest of
Blanqui, who, it was rumoured, was plotting mischief.
Lamartine alone, and with considerable warmth, de-
fended that arch-conspirator, arguing that to make a
martyr of the revolutionist would be a political blunder.
But when Caussidiere announced that he possessed irre-
futable evidence that Blanqui purposed making an attack
on the Hotel de Ville and the Prefecture, his arrest was
decided on. Even then Lamartine and Albert refused to
sign the warrant. As a matter of fact it was never exe-

1 Cf. Quentin-Bauchart, op. cit., p. 286, and Commission d'enquite, vol. I,
p. 220, Deposition Arago; also Regnault, Histoire du gouvernement pro-
visoire, p. 301.

343

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

cuted, and Lamartine subsequently prevailed with Ledru-
Rollin for its destruction.1

It will be remembered that on February 28, Mr. Rush,
the American Minister, had unofficially assured Lamar-
tine of the undoubted sympathy of his Government with
the new order in France. Not until April 26, however,
was Mr. Rush in possession of despatches from home
instructing him to congratulate and recognize the new
French Republic officially.2 On this occasion Lamartine
expressed himself very warmly, extolling the traditional
friendship which bound together the two countries, and
terminating his impassioned harangue with the words:
"Tout Francais a pour les Americains le cceur de La-
fayette." 3 Doubt has been cast on Lamartine's personal
sympathy with the excessively democratic institutions
in the United States. "America," he wrote at a later
date, "has as yet only the superiority of youth. Her
genius, if one different from that inherited from old
Europe, her mother, be vouchsafed her, is as yet only
budding. It is impossible to foretell what the fruit will
be." 4 A few years later, in 1865, during the War of
Secession, analyzing the work of the naturalist Audubon,
he says: "America contains the germ of a great people:
one must be careful not to stifle the germ in speaking too
roughly of her acts of yesterday and to-day. We are not
partisans of her civilization, which we regard as too ele-
mentary and too brutal." 5 And he goes on to question
the purity of the Revolution, undertaken, in his estima-
tion, in a "venal cause."6 In a moment of extreme irri-
tation he had even dubbed the United States "un

1 Caussidiere, Memoires, vol. n, p. 61 ; also Ledru-Rollin's evidence be-
fore High Court on March 19, 1849.

2 Archives, Department of State, Washington.
8 La France parlementaire, vol. v, p. 247.

4 Cours de lilterature, vol. ill, p. 251. 5 Ibid., vol. xx, p. 82.

6 Ibid.; cf. also vol. xn, p. 19, and Memoires politiques, vol. II, p. 13.

. . 344 . .

THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY

peuple sans ancetres sur un continent sans passe." *
Politically speaking, the civilization of the United States
held his admiration, although at times his criticisms were
harsh and unjust. He recognized that fundamentally the
principles underlying the American and French Revolu-
tions were identical: the revolt against tyranny and ar-
bitrary fiscal impositions and social injustice. As a con-
sequence, logically Lamartine could not, and did not,
refuse to admit the sublimity of the philosophy which
had guided a Washington. The political genius under-
lying the glory of the great Liberator did not escape him
and inspired him with genuine respect. But he failed at
times to detect beneath democratic egotism the great
humanitarian aims of the generous civilization of the
New World.

Judging by contemporaneous French records, private
and official, there would appear to be but little founda-
tion for the assertion, made by an American sojourning
in Paris, that Mr. Rush's welcome to the New Republic
"was met with cold and partial acknowledgement on the
part of the French Government." 2 Mr. Mitchell states
that: "Our Minister, with his congressional resolutions,
was received at the H6tel de Ville as a debtor who comes
to liquidate an old-standing account." When compared
with the documents preserved in the State Department
in Washington this view of the situation is manifestly an
exaggeration. Yet Mr. Mitchell's psychology was not
wholly at fault when he contended that: "This new
Republic had assumed to itself a far higher character than
belonged to our own. It was initiative — as its makers
hoped — to a higher progress, and a more thorough re-

1 Cours de litterature, vol. in, p. 251. The phrase reminds one of Chateau-
briand's, who in the Natchez, which Lamartine had certainly read, speaks
contemptuously of "cette societe sans a'ieux et sans souvenirs." Cf.
Chateaubriand, CEuvres completes, vol. vn, p. 18 (edition of 1832).

8 Donald Grant Mitchell ("Ik Marvel"), The Battle Summer, p. 117.

. . 345 . .

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

form than was to be found in any Western wilderness ; as
much higher as French vanity is disposed to rate French
political philosophy above all other. Deeper questions
were submitted to their philosophic analysis. Humanity
was reduced to codification; and the teachers affected
to disregard that humble effort of our own, which was
successful, only for the poor reason that it was practical.
A merely judicious and safe government, having for its
basis popular representation, was by no means the end
of their wishes. New systems of labour, State finance of
criminal policy, and a reduction of commonest affairs of
life to a nice, philosophic, pseudo-Christian organiza-
tion, was the dream as much of Lamartine, as of Louis
Blanc, or Raspail." 2

Here the American critic touches the real issue. It was
the transcendentalism of Lamartine's political philosophy
which constituted its lack of practical power when
brought face to face with the everyday, rough-and-
tumble brutalities of a raw and untrained democracy.

It was probably Lamartine's own words, in his reply
to Mr. Rush on April 26, which led Mr. Mitchell to be-
lieve that the American Minister was received "as a
debtor who comes to liquidate an old-standing account."
Lamartine recalled the fact that France had been the
first to recognize the young American Republic, and
dwelt on the struggle which had attended the birth of
Democracy in the New World. "In accordance with
the just decree of Providence, it behooved the American
Republic," he argued, "to be the first to give recogni-
tion to the new French Republic, to affix, so to speak,
her sign-manual to the birth certificate of French Democ-
racy in Europe." "This signature, Mr. Minister," he
added, "will bring us luck." 2 The words were cor-
dial, the sentiment gracefully expressed. Diplomatically

x Mitchell, op. cit., p. 118. * La France parlementaire, vol. V, p. 247.

• • 346 • •

THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY

speaking, the incident had its undoubted value. But
from the standpoint of international European politics
the purely sentimental moral support of the United
States was in reality a negligible quantity, welcome as it
might be to the men struggling to keep together the con-
flicting elements of the government they had founded on
the shifting sands of an unripe democracy.

Although Lamartine termed the manifestation of
April 16 "un sympt6me accidentel," * its purport was
symptomatic of far more deeply rooted political and
social revolt than his optimism was willing to admit. He
had stated to Lord Normanby the belief that the popular
acclamations attending the review of April 21 "had
secured the permanent destinies of the country"; 2 by
which he meant, of course, the Republic. This confidence
was not shared either by his interlocutor or by the vast
majority of political observers, who discerned in the
heterogeneous composition of the forthcoming Na-
tional Assembly a hot-bed of dissentient and reactionary
intrigues. Symptoms of these reactionary tendencies
became apparent as preparations for the elections pro-
gressed. Ledru-Rollin's agents, disseminated through-
out the provinces, had undertaken the schooling of
peasants and small tradesfolk in rural and urban districts.
Many believed their influence would be decisive. The
contrary was the case. The great mass of voters, un-
accustomed to the franchise, but canny where their
material interests were at stake, in spite of republican
leanings showed but scant appreciation for the principles
so noisily proclaimed in the metropolis. With few excep-
tions but two names really counted, those of Lamartine
and Ledru-Rollin. The latter represented to provincial
voters a sectarian and exclusive Republic, Jacobin, social-

1 Memoires politiques, vol. in, p. 293.
8 Cf. Normanby, op. cit., vol. 1, p. 340.

. . 347 . .

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

istic, in a word, "red." The former, on the contrary, stood
for the antithesis of the political circulars of the Luxem-
bourg and of Louis Blanc's radicalism.1 It was to this
standard that the majority of provincial electors even-
tually nocked. As Lord Normanby expressed it, the
elections were generally in favour of men of every shade
of opinion inclined to check the ultra-revolutionary
movement, "though almost every one returned is, for
the present, professedly a Republican." 2

In Paris, Lamartine headed the list of successful
candidates with a total of 259,800 ballots. Ledru-
Rollin's name was twenty-fourth (131,587 votes), and
Louis Blanc's twenty-seventh (120,140). Moreover, ten
electoral colleges had proclaimed Lamartine their repre-
sentative, the total aggregating 1,600,000 votes.3 When
Marrast informed the poet-statesman of this unprec-
edented triumph, Lamartine, pushing aside the dog
which lay upon his lap, sprang to his feet, exclaiming: " I
am head and shoulders greater than Alexander or
Caesar!" adding reflectively, "At least they say so." 4
But those who knew realized that the triumph was less
due to the man than to the principles he incarnated. In
other words, it was to the party of the "National," the
champion of moderation, and the irreconcilable foe of
the clubs and of socialism, that the voters carried their
homage. "Le 27 avril est l'apog6e de la popularity de
Lamartine," writes Quentin-Bau chart,5 and from that
hour may be traced the decline and fall of the marvellous
influence he had wielded. The psychology of popularity

1 Quentin-Bauchart, op. cit., p. 308; also Regnault, op. cit., p. 358.
X. Doudan {Melanges et lettres, vol. 11, p. 159) styles Blanc "The Tom-
Thumb of Terror."

2 Normanby, op. cit., vol. I, p. 348.

* The departments proclaiming Lamartine were: Bouches du Rh6ne,
Cotes d'Or, Dordogne, Finistere, Gironde, Ille et Vilaine, Nord, Sa6ne et
Loire, Seine, Seine inferieure.

* Regnault, op. cit., p. 358. 6 Op. cit. (La politique intcrieure), p. 310.

. . 348 • •

THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY

is as inscrutable as are the decrees of Providence. In
his "Lettre aux Dix Departements," dated August 25,
1848, Lamartine sadly complains that the popularity
which had upheld him, "without cause, had been with-
drawn without a motive."1 But is this assertion sub-
stantially correct?

Before analyzing Lamartine's refutation of the accusa-
tions which had been levelled against him, and which he
specifically recognizes as the basis of this withdrawal of
popular confidence, it will be necessary to relate as suc-
cinctly as possible the events on and after the 4th of
May, the date on which the National Assembly met in
Paris. Opinions differ as to the unanimity and spontane-
ity of the reception accorded the Provisional Government
when its members entered the Chamber on May 4. But
there is little question but that this impressive ceremony
still found Lamartine at the zenith of his national and
international prestige. The stealthy processes which were
to undermine and destroy his political repute were as yet
hidden from the general public. Lord Normanby, who
assisted at the ceremony, states that "the Provisional
Government, as a body, were coldly received within the
Chamber. ' Vive la Republique ' was vociferously shouted
by a portion of the members, and was loudly echoed from
the tribunes." 2 Lamartine himself states that the nine
hundred deputies, on the entrance of the members of the
Provisional Government, sprang to their feet, and that
"an immense cry of 'Vive la Republique' demonstrated
that France had ratified and adopted unanimously the
principles of February." 3 The truth probably lies be-
twixt and between. Unquestionably many of the depu-
ties who shouted their approval of the Republic did so,

1 Opening phrase of his letter. * Normanby, op. ciL, vol. I, p. 360.

3 Mimoires politiques, vol. in, p. 317; cf. also Quentin-Bauchart, op. cit.,
p. 311.

. . 349 . .

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

not from conviction as to the blessings, or even the Sta-
bility, of the new regime, but because they had adopted
the popular form of government in default of one more
in harmony with their personal sentiments. In such a
medley of political aspirations this was inevitable.

After listening with rapt attention to the short address
of the venerable President, Dupont de l'Eure, the whole
Assembly, surrounding the members of the Provisional
Government, thronged on to the peristyle of the Palais
Bourbon, to receive the thundering applause of the vast
multitude assembled on the square, the bridge, and ad-
jacent streets. Here there could be no mistake as to the
enthusiasm elicited by the appearance of the men who
had risked life and popularity in the exercise of their
often thankless task, during the last three months. As
usual, to Lamartine went the lion's share of the intoxi-
cating public applause. Already, before the short session
within the Chamber, his advent had been the signal for a
popular outburst of frantic cheering. Normanby some-
what maliciously relates a colloquy which took place on
the following day. M There is a simple candour, some-
times, in Lamartine's self-esteem which is peculiar and
not without its charm," writes the Ambassador. " I met
him yesterday in one of the lobbies of the House of As-
sembly, and he asked me whether I had seen their pro-
cession and arrival at the Chamber. I said not; that I
had been already in the tribune. He then said, ' Oh ! it
was most satisfactory ! Magnificent! Such universal cries
of "Vive Lamartine!" Not so many of "Vive la Rcpu-
blique ! " Not enough ! ' And yet he had been struck natu-
rally with the enthusiasm of his own reception." 1 A few
days later the usually circumspect diplomatist gives vent
in the pages of his "Journal" to decidedly acrimonious
criticism. " I see the English newspapers continue to

1 Normanby, op. cit., vol. I, p. 362.
• • 350 • •

THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY

make a great hero of Lamartine. I need not say it is from
no want of personal partiality, that I cannot quite share
their feeling; I have been rather too much behind the
scenes. He has excellent sentiments, but no steady
principles ; and no one can have so much vanity without,
in his place, having some jealousy in his composition;
and at this moment his rising jealousy is against what he
calls the ' cote droit ' of Government, a designation which
we have lived to hear applied to the 'coterie' of the
'National.' . . . Lamartine does not wish to separate
himself from the violent party, because he hopes to make
himself necessary to the others by appearing to act as a
moderator; but, by the speech he delivered yesterday,
it seems that he is likely to get too deep in democratic
excesses, and thus soon lose all this applause from 'les
honn§tes gens,' with whom his popularity depends upon
his being considered as ready to rid them of the others." x
The speech to which Her Britannic Majesty's Ambas-
sador takes exception was that delivered by Lamartine,
in the place of Dupont de 1'Eure, before the National
Assembly on May 6, 1848.2 The speaker undoubtedly
draws a more politic than strictly veracious picture
of the "dissensions" (a more euphonious term than
"treacheries") which had threatened to tear asunder the
Provisional Government. His efforts to gloss over such
episodes as those of the red flag, and the manifestations
organized by the minority in order to cow their col-
leagues, did honour to his loyalty, but could deceive none
of his hearers. If he covers with the flowers of his rhetoric
the victorious mob (he uses the more dignified substan-
tive, "People") which had overturned the Throne, it was
because he presented himself as the representative of

1 Normanby, op. cit., vol. i, p. 366.

2 Not May 7, as Lamartine erroneously states in the Memoires politiques,
vol. in, p. 318.

. . 351 . .

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

that populace whose interests he had whole-heartedly es-
poused. There is no sign of truckling to the base passions
of the "ultras," no crude indication of the "democratic
excesses" the English Ambassador affects to discern.
"Ce fut un discours de Concorde, d'union et d'apaise-
ment," opines M. Quentin-Bauchart ; * and with this
verdict most critics will agree, whatever reservations
they may make in petto, as to the political wisdom of
Lamartine's generosity.

Yet Lord Normanby's insight was not wholly at fault.
Lamartine spoke for his colleagues: the responsibilities
were collective, not individual. He must have recognized
that he was treading the borderland which separated
"les honnetes gens" from the politicians who sought to
entrap him in their net: that excessive zeal in the defence
of those who had professed and practised ultra-revolu-
tionary theories must inevitably alienate the conserva-
tive elements on which he counted for the maintenance of
the Republic. His own countrymen have judged harshly
the overweening self-confidence (vanity, Normanby calls
it) which led him to believe himself indispensable to all
parties, and, as such, master of the situation. "Intoxi-
cated by his prodigious success in the elections," writes
Quentin-Bauchart, "he firmly believed that it depended
only on himself to have the dictatorship awarded him,
and that not only would the dignity be uncontested, but
be spontaneously offered him." 2 The accuracy of this
contention is vouched for by Lamartine's own words.
In his " Histoire de la r6volution de 1848 " (written in the
third person), he textually acknowledges the assurance
he entertained. "He could not hide from himself that
his popularity in Paris amounted to passion, . . . that
the ten elections which bestowed on him almost the title
of universal representative, that the seven or eight mil-

1 Lamartine, p. 312. * Quentin-Bauchart, op. tit., vol. 1, p. 315.

. . 352 • •

THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY

lion votes which were at his service throughout the
length and breadth of the Republic, and lastly the sup-
port of six or seven hundred deputies out of nine hun-
dred, designated, nay imposed, him as the choice of the
Assembly 'comme l'homme de la circonstance et comme
le chef unique et predestin6 du pouvoir. ' " 1 Fully cogni-
zant of the perils of the situation he believed to be within
his grasp, Lamartine felt no hesitancy as to the personal
aptitudes he possessed to fill the tremendous role.

At the same time a careful reading of the arguments he
advances for and against energetic and decisive action on
his part (arguments which are numerous in the pages of
his contemporaneous writings) 2 seems to indicate certain
misgivings as to the possibility of dispensing with the
support of the radical party, should he attain his ends.
Nor was this disinclination to throw in his lot fairly and
squarely with the elements constituting Ledru-Rollin's
political faction the only deterrent. Other considerations
had their weight: prudential considerations of honour,
and the possible verdict of History, mingled with an ill-
concealed scepticism as to the profundity of the repub-
lican sentiment in France. Over these he pondered during
the "three or four sleepless nights" he spent "alone with
his conscience, deliberating the future." 3

Lamartine, urged by Dupont de l'Eure, had sketched
out a plan for a constitution which he desired to submit
to the Assembly. His original idea called for a trium-
virate whose members should represent "the three ele-
ments on which power is founded: impulsion, resistance,
moderation"; and who should assume their functions
for a period of three years, exercising a restrictive influ-
ence over the inevitably impulsive tendencies of the raw

: Op. cit., vol. n, p. 403.

2 Histoire de la revolution de 1848, Memoires politiques, and Lettre aux
dix departements, etc.
8 Histoire de la revolution de 1848, vol. 11, p. 405.

. . 353 . .

LIFE OF IAMARTINE

materials constituting the Assembly.1 Lamartine has
not confided to posterity the names of the colleagues he
would have selected had this system been adopted, but
undoubtedly he had Ledru-Rollin in mind as one of
them. Perhaps Marrast would have been the other, as
a counterpoise, and the representative of the party of
the "National." The role of Lamartine was to be that
of a Cromwell should the necessity arise; but of a Crom-
well whose actions would be purely conciliatory, far
removed from the violences of his regicide prototype.

Authoritative critics, such as Charles de Mazade, be-
lieve that had Lamartine resolutely and unflinchingly
seized the opportunity which offered, and with firm hand
assumed the dictatorship, thrusting aside all subversive
elements, the Republic would have been securely, per-
haps permanently, established. There is no doubt that
the country at large would have upheld the action of
"le premier citoyen de France." 2 The army, the mod-
erates, and conservative republicans would have wel-
comed the guarantee his moral personality offered as a
safeguard at home and abroad. Although this is sub-
stantially true, the acceptance of the hypothesis is inad-
missible, since it presupposes that Lamartine was not
Lamartine. In the course of this study it has been made
clearly manifest that final, concrete, and imperious action
was wholly foreign to his temperament. In an emergency,
such as the rejection of the red flag, or the refusal of his
signature to the decree concerning the State organization
of labour, he might, and did, take a firm stand, and abide
by his decision at all costs. But however high personal
ambition may have soared, however immeasurable his
vanity and self-confidence, he was physically and men-

1 Histoire de la revolution de 1848, vol. 11, p. 344.

* Cf. Mazade, Lamartine, p. 177; cf. also Quentin-Bauchart, op. cit.,
P- 317.

354

THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY

tally incapable of assuming the role of a Bonaparte. A
diplomatist rather than a statesman, in the more uncom-
promising and brutal sense of the term, it was through
conciliation that he sought to attain his ends. As a con-
sequence, he turned again in this essentially psychologi-
cal crisis to Ledru-Rollin and others of his ilk. The im-
pulsion, generous as it unquestionably was, proved fatal.
The all-powerful party of the "National," Marrast,
Marie, Gamier- Pages, and many other influential "mod-
erates," could not overlook or forgive an alliance, or at
least a compliance, with the author of the electional
"circulars," whose socialistic tendencies were abhorrent
to them. In the eyes of these men Lamartine was almost
a traitor. "They saw in him an unscrupulous politician,
who had in view only his personal interests and the desire
to occupy the most prominent place, ready to sacrifice
them first of all in favour of his ambitions and his popu-
larity." 1 All sorts of rumours were afloat as to the
nature of his relations with Caussidiere, Sobrier, and
even Blanqui.

Nevertheless, when on May 4 he entered the National
Assembly his popularity and prestige were still, as has
been said, in their zenith, and it is possible that even the
party of the "National" might have been placated had
Lamartine then and there renounced all connection with
the obnoxious elements they dreaded. But he realized
the radical measures his assumption of power must entail.
As he himself said: "II m'aurait fallu pour cela deux
echafauds: Tun a droite pour Montalembert, et l'autre
a gauche pour Blanqui," meaning, of course, that he
could only have governed successfully by suppressing
the royalists and the extreme socialists. Lamartine refers
to the Revolution of July as having "aborted before
term," and to the dynasty it set up as "a republican

1 Quentin-Bauchart, op. cit., p. 319.
. . 355 . .

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

royalty." Yet in 1830 he had accepted this compromise
as vastly preferable to a frankly democratic system,
knowing his countrymen still unripe for so radical a
change. Writing to Virieu from Paris, on September 21,
1830, he had, indeed, expressed his terror of a possible
republic such as the ; clubs desired: "Je te la refuserai
tant que je pourrai," he assures his friend.1 Circum-
stances alter cases. Eighteen years of perpetual disap-
pointment had proved the fallacy of the paradox on which
the July Monarchy had been founded. In France at least
the systems were incompatible. Nor was monarchical
Europe willing to accept on a footing of equality the
usurper who rules by virtue of an electorate instead of
by right divine. Hence the total lack of "political in-
timacy," the absence of which Lamartine held up as a
grief against the late regime. But when considering this
arraignment the fact should not be lost sight of that
Lamartine was addressing a Republican Chamber, owing
its election to universal suffrage. The manifest exagger-
ations were dictated by that sentimentalism, so to speak,
inseparable from outbursts of popular eloquence. Wit-
ness such phrases as: "Sous la Republique c'est le prin-
cipe d6mocratique et fraternel qui devient la veritable
frontiere de la France." Or again: "The Republic un-
derstood at once the new policy which philosophy, hu-
manity, the need of the century, were to inaugurate at
last through the instrumentality of our country among
the nations: I ask for no better proof that Democracy is
of divine inspiration, and that it will triumph in Europe
as rapidly and as gloriously as it has triumphed in
Paris." 2 Instead of being smothered by the reactionary
governments of Europe, France, Lamartine assures his
hearers, now marches in the van of eighty-eight millions
of confederates and friends, including Italy, Switzerland,
1 Correspondence, dxx. * Cf. La France parlementaire, vol. v, p. 269.
• • 356 • •

THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY

and those peoples of Germany whose emancipation had
been accomplished by popular uprisings since the over-
throw of the July Monarchy.

"I think," noted Lord Normanby, "even the Assem-
bly considered M. Lamartine's manifesto as imprudent,
because when one member moved that it should not only
be circulated in the country, but communicated to for-
eign Powers, there was a very general feeling against
the proposition." * The imputation attributed by Nor-
manby to the report would appear excessive. The retro-
spective grievances to which Lamartine alluded were,
indeed, matters of history: the principles laid down in
the "Manifesto to Europe" had been observed in the
spirit as well as in the letter. France sought no territorial
aggrandizement; no undue pressure, moral or physical,
had been exerted in order to bring her neighbours into
the democratic fold. On the contrary, Lamartine had
ever sought to restrain the too zealous efforts of prosely-
tizers who risked embroiling their country abroad. His
instructions to De Circourt at Berlin were imbued with
wise counsels of moderation, insisting upon the right of
France to work out her own salvation, but recognizing
the freedom of other European States to settle their
domestic problems as they might see fit.2

But when Lamartine took his seat after the delivery
of the report, the subtle antagonism which he was to
confront in the Assembly was already discernible. De-
spite his vanity and self-confidence, it is probable that
he read the signs aright. Yet he was determined to stand
by the colleagues chance and the voice of the people
had given him in February, even at the cost of his own
popularity. The National Assembly, the aim of his in-

1 Normanby, op. tit., vol. I, p. 373; cf. also Lamartine, Histoire de la
revolution de 1848, vol. 11, p. 402, who maintains that his speech was uni-
versally applauded and that it was printed and sent to foreign Powers.

2 Cf . Georges Bourgin, Souvenirs d'une mission d Berlin, vol. II, passim.

. . 357 . .

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

cessant endeavour during the stormy weeks of the Pro-
visional Government, was now a fait accompli. But
did this heterogeneous mass of conflicting political sen-
timents necessarily guarantee the Republic? A false
step, a suspicion even, might precipitate the country into
the chaos of anarchism. Was he, Lamartine, the stum-
bling-block? That he believed he was is apparent from
his decision. " II faut me perdre et sauver l'Assemblee
nationale," he cried. And, when his friends urged him to
assume the dictatorship, he pointed out to them the peril
such an act would involve, adding: " Je m'engloutis, mais
je vous sauve." l

1 Histoire de la revolution de 1848, vol. 11, p. 412.

CHAPTER XLVIII
THE WANE OF HIS INFLUENCE

Louis Blanc, while recognizing, at times dazzled by,
the genius of Lamartine, correctly summed up the meas-
ure of his political frailty. In spite of the astounding
electoral success of his rival, the popular agitator quickly
realized the wane of his influence, once the National
Assembly had met. The tribute Blanc pays to Lamartine,
in the pages of his "Histoire de la r£volution de 1848,"
is impregnated with a retrospective jealousy mingled
with grudging admiration for his undoubted merit. He
seeks to fathom and to explain the ascendancy of Lamar-
tine's political action by the juxtaposition of his vanity
and the splendour of his imagination. If we are to believe
him, Lamartine lived perpetually in a dream, cradled by
the sense of his own immensely superior intellectual
advantages. "Endowed with a prodigious power of illu-
sion, he suddenly imagined that he had given to France
this Republic which he had so long judged chimerical, and
which he had combated : dragged along by the movement,
he believed he had guided it, and thought it would be
easy for him to dominate it." l

The criticism is not devoid of acumen, as even the
most ardent admirer of Lamartine will admit. Nor
does Blanc deny the absolute sincerity which prompted
the generous effort for reconciliation through the me-
dium of his personal seduction. Yet he insinuates:
"Nos meilleurs sentiments recelent de si imperceptibles
sophismes et le cceur humain est si habile a se tromper
lui-meme," — a poisoned shaft rendering questionable
1 Op. cit., vol. 11, p. 63.
• • 359 • •

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

the sincerity of the writer's measured praise. Although
not taxing Lamartine directly with his exclusion from
the Executive Commission, it is apparent that Blanc
resents his former colleague's passive acceptance of the
omission.

•As a matter of fact, Lamartine's influence had been
largely instrumental in dictating the National Assembly's
choice of the five members who composed the Executive
Commission, elected to replace the Provisional Govern-
ment until such time as a permanent form of consti-
tutional administration should have been adopted. But
this influence had been exerted, not to the exclusion of
any of his late colleagues, but for the maintenance of
Ledru-Rollin in any combination it might be decided
to support. In his speech of May 9 all his efforts had been
directed to this end. If the national representatives
bowed before the will of the still popular statesman,
they were speedily to demonstrate the secret resentment,
not to say mistrust, they experienced. On the morrow
Lamartine's name stood fourth on the list, with 643 bal-
lots in his favour, as against 725 for Arago, 715 for Gar-
nier- Pages, and 702 for Marie. His protege, Ledru-Rollin,
obtained but 458. Contrasted with his fabulous triumph
at the polls on April 28, Lamartine's fall from grace was
indeed significant. In his "Memoires politiques" he sor-
rowfully acknowledges that he had lost the confidence
of a large portion of the National Assembly "through
the sacrifice he made of his popularity and his ambition,"
and that he was punished because of his refusal to sub-
scribe to "the impatience and blindness" of his country.1
The phrase is obscure, but there can be no doubt as to
his apprehension concerning the fate in store for the
Republic should Ledru-Rollin and his very considerable
following be ignored in the composition of the Execu-
1 Op. cil., vol. in, p. 360.
• • 360 • •

THE WANE OF HIS INFLUENCE

tive Commission.1 Lord Normanby credited Lamartine
with "some unaccountable impulse, either of supposed
chivalry, or of momentary weakness"; 2 but there is rea-
son for the belief that his motive was deeper-rooted.

The personal aims which M. Maurice Barres attrib-
utes to the hero of the H6tel de Ville must appear to all
impartial students as supremely unfair. "Lamartine at-
tendait de la democratic un plaisir sublime, la joie de se
faire porter sur un element qui pouvait l'engloutir. Cet
aristocrate esperait de s6duire les vagues et de s'elever
sur elles au plus haut point de la gloire." And he goes on
to compare him to the gambler to whom the excitement
of the game he plays is at once the means and the end.3
This is clearly unjust. His motives were pure, and his
loyalty to his former colleague was an act of sublime im-
molation of personal ambitions on the altar of patriotism.
Yet his persistence in the effort to retain his popularity
is disconcerting to his most ardent admirers to-day, and
was doubly suspicious to his contemporaries. Doubtless,
in his youth, Lamartine had been fed on the substantial
morality of Chastellux's then popular treatise "De la
Felicite publique" — a work our own time would do well
to ponder. Apparent in his political writings and speeches,
the idealism of the Marquis's precepts coincided with
his own deep-rooted horror of internecine strife. But
then why not accept the advice of many candid friends,
and retire from the political stage with the halo of his

1 Cf. Lamartine, Lettre aux dix departments ; also C. de Freycinet
{Souvenirs, vol. I, p. 36), an eye-witness of the events described, who writes:
"Ledru-Rollin and his principal assistant, Jules Favre, through their inju-
dicious intervention, did more harm to the Republic than all the collective
hostile elements." The same writer maintains that the names of Lamartine,
Gamier-Pages, Marie, and Ledru-Rollin were essential in the composition
of the Executive Commission. He commends without restriction Lamar-
tine's insistence concerning Ledru-Rollin, qualifying it, "un acte de haute
politique," and blames the reactionary Assembly for the expiation its author
was made to suffer. Op. cit., p. 37.

2 Normanby, op. cit., vol. I, p. 370. 8 V Abdication du poete, p. 43. .

• • 361 • ♦

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

prodigious popularity not only unblemished, but im-
measurably enhanced? He himself realized the wane of
his popularity, and the arguments he advances in extenu-
ation of his action are unconvincing; nay, even lend colour
to the insinuations of his foes.1 Nevertheless, the un-
questionably generous impulse which hastened his fall,
when judged in the light of his political career, should
mitigate in his favour and shield him from unduly harsh
criticism.

Condemned to play a subordinate r61e in the Execu-
tive Commission, Lamartine would even appear to have
shared, momentarily at least, the lassitude which fol-
lowed on the prolonged tension he and his colleagues had
been under since February. He made no effort to create
for himself a following in the Assembly. Nor did he take
serious steps to combat the campaign of depopulariza-
tion his foes had undertaken. The attitude which he
had adopted towards the Polish agitators and refugees,
who sought to embroil the Provisional Government with
Prussia and Austria, was now actively exploited to dis-
credit him, and was used as a lever not only to excite
public opinion against him personally, but to create
popular discontent with the National Assembly he had
laboured so persistently to convoke. To those who came
to him for political advice, he responded evasively that
"all would be well": and he referred those who sought
his opinions on the projected constitution to Beranger
and Lamennais.2

Notwithstanding this apparent apathy he continued
to exercise an influence which, if it was grudgingly ac-
cepted, was real. Had a statesman of the first order been
available, it is highly probable that the floating elements

1 Cf. Memoires politiques, vol. ill, p. 357.

2 Stern, op. cit., vol. in, p. 5, note. "Confiant toujours, oublieux, plein
de serenite, il attendait tout du temps et de son etoile."

• • 362 • •

THE WANE OF HIS INFLUENCE

of the Assembly could have been coordinated at the out-
set, and a master-builder could have moulded the ma-
terial into a sound and stable monument. Alas! no such
leader was forthcoming; and the dissolvent tactics of
the ultra-revolutionists, whom the vaunted application
of universal suffrage had served not a whit, sapped
the vitality of the hermaphroditic assemblage. Neither
Thiers nor Mole had been elected, and Odilon Barrot,
although enjoying consideration, was not recognized as
an efficient leader. Lamartine, possessed though he was
of many of the qualities which go to make a statesman,
was, as has been seen, woefully lacking in that "un-
scrupulousness" which the successful leader of men must
perforce exercise in a crisis. His was the velvet glove,
indeed: but the suave envelope concealed no iron fist.
The 15th of May was to make manifest the weakness of
his policy of general reconciliation and the fallacy of his
attempts at intercession with the leaders of subversive
factions. On the one hand, he was to be accused of asso-
ciation with the promoters of the movement, in league
with Ledru-Rollin for the establishment of a dema-
gogical dictatorship; on the other, to face the assertion
that, in complicity with Marrast, he had prepared a trap
for the revolutionists.

It seems impossible to accept unreservedly M. Quentin-
Bauchart's contention that Lamartine's conduct during
the demonstration proves that he was taken by surprise.1
Lord Normanby, greatly concerned over the public
rumours, made several attempts to speak with him on
May 14, but Lamartine was almost incessantly closeted
with his colleagues. The gravity of the impending popu-
lar demonstration was fully appreciated by the man in
the street, and it is consequently inadmissible that those
in authority were unaware of its import. "On the one

1 Op. cit. {La politique interieure), p. 328.
. . 363 • •

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

side," wrote Normanby, "it was said that the demon-
stration on behalf of Poland to-morrow would be so
powerful that neither the Assembly nor the Government
could resist it; on the other side, it was assumed, that
as every one to be entrusted with the execution of the
national will must see how impossible it would be to give
practical effect to it in that quarter, the Government
would endeavour to divert the populace from that de-
mand (immediate war with Prussia and Austria), by
announcing that they were going to take possession of
Savoy." 1 That such an alternative was ever seriously
considered by the Executive Commission is, however,
not proved, and the searching enquiries instigated at
a later date give no evidence in support of the allega-
tion, which the British Ambassador rightly stigmatizes
as a "monstrous pretension." War was the last calamity
Lamartine, or any of his colleagues, was prepared to face.
What Daniel Stern terms the "tolerance" 2 of Lamartine
must be attributed to his inveterate optimism, if not to
his undiminished confidence in the magic of his elo-
quence when face to face with a turbulent mob.

As early as April 3, the revolutionary newspapers and
club organs had warned their readers that the national
representatives must be jealously watched by the people
of Paris, and that in case of necessity their mandate
should be revoked by this self-constituted tribunal.3
During the month which had intervened these menaces
had been pertinaciously repeated, and the question of
intervention in favour of Poland made a live issue. It
is difficult in our day to grasp the full import of what must
appear a purely sentimental problem. Yet it will be re-
membered that since the Revolution of July, 1830, every
year the Address of the Crown contained reference to

1 Normanby, op. cit., vol. I, p. 382. 2 Op. cit., vol. m, p. 19.

3 Cf. L' Atelier and Commune de Paris, both of that date.

364

THE WANE OF HIS INFLUENCE

Poland, signifying the determination of Parliament not
to allow the matter to lapse. Platonic as such reference
undoubtedly was, it contained the germ of a popular
ideal; indistinct and vague, yet dangerously persistent.
Agitation in favour of the Poles, fomented by the
clubs in order to embarrass the Government and As-
sembly, began on May 13. Marrast, Mayor of Paris,
and Caussidiere, the Prefect of Police, had, however,
given assurances that no serious disturbances were to
be feared. Nevertheless, General Courtais, who was in
command, took certain precautionary measures in the
precincts of the Palais Bourbon for the protection of the
national representatives. Rumours concerning the trust-
worthiness of Caussidiere had indeed provoked a half-
hearted proposal for the arrest of the Prefect of Police,
but Lamartine promptly quashed the motion, making
himself personally responsible for his fidelity.1 At noon
on the 15th, accompanied by Ledru-Rollin, Lamartine
proceeded to the Legislative Chamber, and, anticipating
no trouble, took his seat. As he was about to reply to an
interpellation concerning the Government's policy in
Italy, he was informed of the arrival in the Place de la
Concorde, opposite the bridge leading to the Chamber,
of an immense column of people demanding the right to
impose their petition upon the National Representatives.
General Courtais essayed at first to parley, and then
meekly sent word to Lamartine, asking his authority to
allow the manifestants to cross the bridge. This Lamar-
tine positively refused to sanction, but eventually agreed
that a deputation of twenty-five be permitted to present
their petition. Before this concession had been communi-
cated, however, the angry attitude of the mob caused
Courtais to waver. Fearing bloodshed, it is asserted, the
General issued the order to his men to sheathe their arms,
1 Cf. J. Favre, Rapport de la commission d'enquSte, vol. I, p. 279.
. • • 365 • •

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

and the populace, realizing that no serious resistance
would be opposed to them, rushed the helpless troopers,
and began to storm the iron railings which protected
the Chamber.

Hastily leaving the rostrum, Lamartine, Ledru-Rollin
at his side, went forth to meet the invading tide, and once
again to quell the angry passions of the plebs with the
magic of his eloquence. Ledru-Rollin was greeted with
applause: Lamartine with hisses. "Vive la Pologne! A
bas Lamartine!" thundered the furious mob. "Tout est
perdu," cried the hero of the Hotel de Ville when he was
roughly pushed aside by the assailants struggling to
gain entrance into the chamber, vociferating: "Down
with Lamartine! He is a traitor!" Determined to sell his
life dearly, Lamartine opposed a desperate resistance to
those who sought to invade the hemicycle. Face to face
with Albert, his colleague in the Provisional Govern-
ment, he repulsed his efforts to cross the threshold, cry-
ing: "You shall not pass: give me your petition and I
will myself lay it on the table." But Albert sneeringly
replied: "Citizen Lamartine, you may be a great poet,
but as statesman you have not our confidence. It is
long enough now that you pay us with poetry and fine
phrases: the people at present demand something more.
The people insist on making themselves heard personally
in the National Assembly." ! Stunned, but intrepid,
Lamartine repeated that only over his prostrate body
should the mob gain access to the Chamber: but jeers
and insults met his expostulations, and he soon recognized
the helplessness of his position. Escaping from the hands
of those who sought to do him violence, he regained his
seat, awaiting further developments and still hoping that
aid would be forthcoming to stem the invasion. Accus-

1 Stern (op. ciL, vol. in, p. 31) mentions Laviron as addressing these
words to Lamartine, but Lamartine himself attributes them to Albert.

• • 366 • •

THE WANE OF HIS INFLUENCE

tomed as he was to "ride the whirlwind and direct the
storm," appeasing physical force, as Lord Normanby
puts it, by the matchless power of speech, Lamartine
found himself disconcerted by the suddenness of the re-
coil of his popularity. But he was not granted any pro-
longed period for reflection, as the irruption of the mob
was practically simultaneous with his return to the
Chamber.

Swarming like locusts, men in blouses or in shirt-sleeves
clambered into the public galleries and swung themselves
to the floor below. No attempt was made to conceal
the bayonets or knives with which most of them were
armed, or the red flag which betrayed the real character
of the manifestation.1 A scene of indescribable confu-
sion followed, as the doors leading from the corridors di-
rectly to the floor of the House were burst open and the
flood of the insurgents poured in. Intoxicated with the
victory, the leaders took the rostrum by assault, strug-
gling one with another, their mouthings inaudible amid
the ear-splitting tumult. Louis Blanc, Barbes, Raspail,
Blanqui, and a host of less well-known agitators, thronged
around the President's chair, shutting him off from all
communication with those outside, and preventing any
appeal to the Garde Nationale, whose battalions stood
awaiting orders in the courtyards of the Palais Bourbon.
Calm and dignified, the eight hundred-odd representa-
tives kept their seats, refusing to believe that aid would
not be immediately forthcoming and the floor be cleared.

Meanwhile Lamartine again left the hall, and, mingling
with the crowds which thronged the corridors and com-
mittee-rooms, harangued the invaders, urging them to
retire and cease this shameful violation of the sanctity

1 Cf. Normanby (op. cit., vol. I, p. 394), who was an eye-witness to the
proceedings, and whose personal narrative is convincing, although it
does not tally with that given by Stern, who denies the mob was armed.

• • 367 • •

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

of the national representation. In vain did he pour out
the floods of his rhetoric: none took heed of his persuasive
eloquence; only gibes and coarse vituperations met his
impassioned appeals. Finally he was dragged by friends
across the garden into the half-finished residence of the
President. There, barricaded in a room, surrounded by
a handful of trusty adherents, he awaited the issue of
events. To General Courtais, who came to him for ad-
vice, he urged the instant rally of the National Guard,
and the deliverance of the besieged Chamber. " If within
three hours," remarked Lamartine to his bodyguard,
" we don't hear the call to arms sounded across the river, I
shall sleep to-night in the prison of Vincennes, or I shall
be shot!" x Indeed, rumours of the wildest kind were
flying about, and the triumph of the irresponsible dema-
gogues seemed assured. In the Chamber, Huber, from
the rostrum, had declared, "in the name of the People,"
that the National Assembly was dissolved. At half-past
three the President, Buchez, having been ejected from his
chair, word was passed to the chiefs of the insurrection
to assemble at the H6tel de Ville. Believing their victory
complete, those remaining in the Chamber began draft-
ing lists for the constitution of a Provisional Government
to be proclaimed in the Hotel de Ville.2 But Courtais
on leaving Lamartine had succeeded in transmitting some
incoherent orders to the troops, and the Garde Mobile,
acting rather on its own initiative than in obedience to
the garbled instructions, hastened to liberate the terror-
ized representatives. A fearful panic ensued : the crowd,
uttering imprecations against what they deemed the
base treachery of their leaders, made frantic efforts to
escape. By five o'clock the hall was cleared and the ses-

1 Histoire de la revolution de 1848, vol. II, p. 436.

1 Cf. Stern (op. cit., vol. ill, p. 37), who gives the fullest and most im-
partial comprehensive account of the wild scenes enacted. Cf. also Garnier-
Pages, Histoire de la revolution de 1848, vol. ix, passim.

• • 368 • •

THE WANE OF HIS INFLUENCE

sion resumed midst cheers for the Republic. When Gen-
eral Courtais, in full uniform, finally appeared, however,
he was greeted with hoots, and his sword and epaulettes
were torn from him. Rescued after submitting to the
insults and violence of the infuriated deputies, branded as
a traitor, he was finally smuggled into the library of the
House, and there detained under strict surveillance.

Order having been restored, the deliberations were
about to begin when the door was flung open, and Lamar-
tine, followed by Ledru-Rollin, made his appearance.
Mounting the rostrum he asked the Assembly to tender
a vote of thanks in the name of France to the National
Guard. His denunciation of the scandalous irruption
which had insulted the Assembly was impregnated with
singular moderation. It was conciliation he sought
rather than avengement. But the closing words of his
harangue demonstrated his determination to face the
still existing peril and reconquer the prestige of the Gov-
ernment he represented. "At such a moment," he cried,
"the place of the Government is not in the Council
Chamber: it is in your van, National Guards, in the street,
in the midst of the fray; at this juncture the noblest ros-
trum in the world is the saddle of a horse!" l And suit-
ing his actions to his words, he called upon his colleagues
on the Executive Commission to follow him to the Hotel
de Ville. Amid frantic applause and the beating of
drums, a horse was brought for Lamartine, another found
for Ledru-Rollin, and accompanied by a few of the bolder
deputies and a vast throng of National Guards, the pro-
cession set forth. En route a regiment of dragoons and
six cannon joined forces, and pushing his way through
the sea of human beings which surged in the streets and
encumbered the quays, the intrepid leader struggled to
reach the Hotel de Ville, already partially in the hands

1 Histoire de la revolution de 1848, vol. 11, p. 440.
• • 369 • •

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

of the rebel leaders, Barbes and Albert, busily occupied
in framing the new Government.

Lamartine, who had assumed command of the ex-
pedition, ordered a turning movement, inspired by his
reminiscences of the great Revolution, successfully sub-
jecting the insurgents to a cross-fire. Despite the danger
of his position he himself advanced on horseback under
the windows of the Hotel de Ville, replying to those who
cautioned him that he must be the first victim. But not
a shot was fired. On the whole, the mob was not hostile,
and the leaders within the building readily realized, in
face of the imposing military force, that the game was
up. Retreating from room to room, Barbes and Albert
were finally cornered and arrested without violence.
Even the rioters who had urged Barbes to take posses-
sion of the Hotel de Ville and proclaim a new Govern-
ment, seeing their discomfiture, now clamoured for his
death.1 Carried in triumph by the seething multitude,
now entirely won over to the cause of order, Lamartine
entered the Hotel de Ville and there signed the warrant
for the arrest of the conspirators and their transportation
to the fortress of Vincennes, where, a few hours earlier,
he had himself expected to pass the night, awaiting exe-
cution.

These formalities accomplished, remounting his horse,
Lamartine started back to the Palais Bourbon. His prog-
ress was, indeed, a royal one. The bridle of his steed held
on either side by troopers; surrounded by a squadron of
mounted Garde Nationale, by dragoons on foot and a vast
concourse of shouting citizens who sought to grasp his
hand or touch the hem of his coat, he tasted once more
the intoxicating cup of idolizing popularity. The dense
crowds thronged the streets, the terraces of the Louvre
and the Tuileries, the windows and roofs of the houses

1 Stern, op. cit., vol. in, p. 45.
• • 370 • •

THE WANE OF HIS INFLUENCE

along the line of march. Handkerchiefs waved on all
sides, flowers were strewn in his path, and amid the
deafening uproar of applause his name was vociferated
even more loudly than the cries of "Vive la Repu-
blique!" "Vive 1'Assemblee nationale!" For a short
space his magnetic personality hypnotized afresh those
who had looked upon him as the saviour of social order and
the very incarnation of the political principles they held
dear. Alas, this redundant ovation was to prove eva-
nescent as the fumes of incense burned before the graven
image of a heathen temple. As he himself confessed less
than a year later: "Never was the name of a simple citi-
zen, adopted as the symbol of restored order, raised
higher by a people, only to fall the more suddenly a few
days later in the slough of unpopularity." And he adds,
with unwonted modesty: " It was evident that above all
triumphs the one which most intoxicated the French
people was the victory over anarchy." 1

Hastening up the steps of the Palais Bourbon, Lamar-
tine immediately mounted the rostrum, and announced
to his colleagues that their authority was reestablished.
During his absence a sort of retrospective panic had seized
upon the Assembly. The obscure and equivocal nature
of the popular onslaught now gave rise to exaggerated
suspicions. Mutual accusations and perfidious insinua-
tions were hurled broadcast, and for a time it seemed as
if the fierce reaction might surpass the episode in de-
plorable consequences. Instinctively grasping the peril,
Lamartine sought to inspire moderation in the reprisals
some of the more exasperated representatives were eager
to decree. When, a little later, Louis Blanc entered the
Chamber and attempted to address his colleagues, he
was received with a furious onslaught of vituperation

1 Histoire de la revolution de 1848, vol. II, p. 449; also Memoires poli-
tiques, vol. in, p. 392.

• * 371 ' '

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

which made it impossible for him to obtain a hearing.
The complicity of Caussidiere, Prefect of Police, has never
been definitely established. His role was a passive one;
but the accusations levelled against him, and which he
was unable to refute, make grave suspicion admissible.
Thanks to his own phenomenal audacity and the pro-
tection of both Lamartine and Ledru-Rollin, he was
enabled to escape the vengeance of what was termed the
"reaction," 1 although eventually forced to resign.

Critical biographers of Lamartine, and the chroniclers
and eye-witnesses of the events described, concur almost
unanimously in minimizing the importance of the part
played by him on May 15. Never prone to hide his light
beneath a bushel, Lamartine himself, in the accounts he
has left us, displays a certain hesitancy, a lack of com-
prehensive unity, which goes to substantiate the insinua-
tions of those who discerned with the decline of his popu-
larity that of his self-assurance also. Undoubtedly he
failed to seize what was possibly a unique opportunity
for his personal aggrandizement. Lord Normanby be-
lieved that had he taken advantage of the situation,
Lamartine would have found the stimulus of assured
popularity he required, and would have redeemed in pub-
lic opinion all recollection of his former error (the foisting
of Ledru-Rollin as his colleague in the Executive Com-
mission).2 As it was; those who believed he would justify
their anticipations, and who looked upon him as the
antagonist of most of the revolutionary results of a so-
cial upheaval of which he was in great part the author,
were doomed to disappointment. Normanby accuses the
National Assembly of "disgraceful inaction," and Lamar-
tine of jealousy of General Changarnier after the latter's

1 Cf. Stern, op. cit., vol. in, p. 54; cf. also Caussidiere (Memoires,
vol. v, p. 8), who cites a flattering letter from Lamartine.

2 Normanby, op. cit., vol. I, p. 400, note; cf. also Alexis de Tocqueville,
Souvenirs, p. 162.

. . 372 • •

THE WANE OF HIS INFLUENCE

successful action on April 16.1 Speculation as to the
truth of this supposition is idle : those who have followed
the public and private career of the man must dismiss
it unreservedly. The "disgraceful inaction" of the As-
sembly touches Lamartine only as a member of that col-
lective whole: he was certainly not a passive spectator
during the episode.

But did he give the full measure of his still consider-
able influence? The character of the rioting was so com-
plex in its origin and significance, that correlation between
cause and effect is difficult to establish. The fact re-
mains, however, that Lamartine had successfully coped
with situations as perilous and complicated during the
months of his uncertain rule at the Hotel de Ville. Must
we seek the solution of the riddle of his half-hearted
resistance on May 15 in a moral lassitude engendered by
thwarted ambitions when his name came out fourth from
the ballot-box which elected the Executive Commission?
His efforts during the last three months to conciliate
what M. de Mazade has called the "two republics" (that
of Lamartine and that of Ledru-Rollin) had resulted, it
is true, in a half victory, but the meagre result had been
achieved at the cost of the confidence hitherto universally
accorded him. The popularity which a few days earlier
would have carried him, practically uncontested, to the
Presidency of the Republic, was shattered by a generous
impulse which was not only incomprehensible to the
practical politicians who would have welcomed his ad-
vent to power, but which rendered him an object of sus-
picion and mistrust to a very large majority within the
Assembly. In other words, the moral authority which had
been his melted like snow when he apparently abdicated
his claims to supremacy by merging them with the
"spiritless amalgam" of the Executive Commission.2

1 Norraanby, op. cit., vol. I, p. 403. * De Mazade, Lamartine, p. 184.

• • 373 * •

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

That the "crime d'occasion," as M. Gallois very aptly
terms the riots of May 15 l had taken him by surprise,
is possible; but impromptu situations, however grave,
had hitherto only stimulated his tireless energy, never
for a moment baffled his serene assurance. To a far greater
extent than appears on the surface Lamartine was handi-
capped by the very machinery he had been at such pains
to set in motion. The sullen hostility of a considerable
faction in the Chamber was increasingly evident. Con-
tra-revolutionaries sought clandestinely to demolish the
structure raised by the men of February and to discredit
those who had introduced popular liberties. The lack of
a firm hand, determined to repress at any cost reactionary
impulses, encouraged a spirit of segregation, and made
the subsequent military dictatorship inevitable. In a
sense Lamartine was made the scapegoat of a situation
he bad undoubtedly contributed to create, but for the
shortcomings and disappointments of which he could
not strictly be held accountable. It was a practical dem-
onstration of the eternal verity of La Fontaine's fable
of the earthen and the iron pots: the weaker vessel was
doomed to destruction when subjected to repeated rough
contact with a coarser substance. Commenting on the
peculiarities of the situation during the invasion of the
Chamber, M. Quentin-Bauchart points out that no single
individual played a predominating role; adding signifi-
cantly: "Au lieu de jouer ce r61e qui lui appartenait, La-
martine reste au second plan." 2 When he slipped out of
his place during the height of the tumult, his absence was
not even noticed. Some show of interest was discernible,
it is true, after order had been restored, and Lamartine,
returning to his place, took command of the expedition
which went to the relief of the Hotel de Ville.

1 Histoire de la republique de 1848, vol. 11, p. 179.

* Lamartine, homme politique (La politique interieure), p. 336.

• • 374 • •

THE WANE OF HIS INFLUENCE

But there was no enthusiasm for the erstwhile popular
hero to whom the Provisional Government had instinc-
tively turned on so many similar occasions. Why? Be-
cause, in the first place, the Assembly was essentially
reactionary in its component parts, and, as such, had no
use for a popular hero tainted by presumed alliances with
demagogues such as the leaders of the clubs, or even
Ledru-Rollin, discredited as the latter was. And be-
cause, in the second place, the Assembly had not been
slow in realizing that Lamartine, possessed of what might
be termed conditional popularity, was not endowed by
nature with those sterner attributes so essential in a
forceful parliamentary leader. He had hesitated to as-
sume the effective direction of the Assembly and of the
country, while that course was still open to him. Even
had he attempted such a task, he must have failed; un-
less, indeed, he had instantly and irrevocably broken
with the compromising associations he chivalrously
clung to, and which he was temperamentally incapable
of sacrificing to personal interests. If May 15 signalized
the final overthrow of the power which the clubs had
arrogated during the days of the Provisional Govern-
ment, it also marked the irremediable collapse of the
influence of the man who had fatuously believed he
could guide and control the fanatic elements which com-
posed their strength. His determined shielding of Caus-
sidiere, and the temerity of the support he lent Louis
Blanc, not only compassed his own political ruin, but
drew suspicion upon the Executive Commission.

The Assembly naturally laid the chief blame for the
violation of the sanctity of their deliberations at the door
of the men who were supposed to exercise supreme au-
thority, and who had the means at hand to enforce it.
Far from attempting to rehabilitate themselves in the
eyes of the outraged representatives by the pursuance of

. . 375 . .

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

a relentless policy of retaliation, however, the Executive
Commission, Lamartine at their head, sought, or seemed
to seek, every opportunity of minimizing or attenuating
the guilt of the conspirators. As a consequence the wild-
est rumours of treachery were current in the lobbies of
the Palais Bourbon. Lord Normanby notes, on May 22,
that "the Assembly thinks it has reason to believe that
the Government meditate a coup de main against them
shortly." 1 Yet it was not so much what the Executive
Commission was supposed to do as what they left undone
that angered Parliament, and especially was Lamartine
accused as being responsible for the apathy.

M. Quentin-Bauchart does not exaggerate when he
states that every circumstance, almost each day since
May 4, had undermined the prestige and influence of the
man whom ten departments had triumphantly elected.2
Noting this reaction in the public estimation of Lamar-
tine, Lord Normanby writes: "With all my disposition,
founded on the personal associations of former days, to
do justice to the brilliant qualities to which the cause
of order was so much indebted in critical moments, I am
bound to say the change in his conduct was so sudden
and inexplicable, that I cannot attribute any part of his
present unpopularity to the proverbial instability of the
French national character." 3 And the Ambassador goes
on to explain that it is not only the alliance with Ledru-
Rollin 4 which has brought about this revulsion of senti-

1 Normanby, op. cit., vol. I, p. 414.

2 Lamartine {La politique interieure), p. 344.
1 Normanby, op. cit., vol. 1, p. 452.

4 In a volume of personal reminiscences entitled Retours sur la vie,
M. Chambolle relates a conversation with Lamartine towards the end of
March or early in April, which, if credence can be given it, goes far to
explain the curious relations existing between the poet-statesman and the
wily politician Ledru-Rollin. Lamartine is reported as saying specifically
when defining the perils of his political position: "Blanqui and his associ-
ates consider me an obstacle which they are determined to remove. I
know their plans: at any moment I may be assassinated! Nevertheless,

• • 376 • •

THE WANE OF HIS INFLUENCE

ment, but that the hostile feeling under which Lamartine
laboured was "distrust of his capacity for the regular
conduct of affairs, combined with suspicions as to the
sincerity of some of his professions." Unfortunately, he
did nothing to retrieve popular confidence: on the con-
trary, his actions appeared, in view of the critical situa-
tion in which he found himself, ever more impolitic. Was
he sincere when expressing the conviction that in a few
weeks he would be more popular than ever? Did his
serene self-confidence blind him as to the probability of
such a resuscitation? There is every reason for the belief
that Lamartine realized fully that he had momentarily
lost his grip on the elements he had previously controlled :
none for the supposition that his faith in his own capacity
to cope with the new situation wavered seriously. A
complication involving serious issues had, indeed, oc-
curred. On June 8 complementary elections had given a
seat in the Assembly to Prince Louis Napoleon Bona-
parte, not only in the Department of the Seine, but in
three others as well. Scenting peril, Lamartine reen-
tered the arena to combat the popular idol with what
M. Quentin-Bauchart has termed "un acharnement qu'il
poussa jusqu'a la mauvaise foi." 1 §

there are people who accuse me of being an accomplice of the terrorists, of
going hand in hand with Ledru-Rollin! Although not animated with so
furious a hatred as that of his 'seides,' Ledru-Rollin has a finger in all
plots directed against me. He is in collusion with Blanqui, either because
he fears him, or because he desires him as an auxiliary. One thing is cer-
tain: no sooner have we taken a resolution in Council than Ledru-Rollin
informs the conspirators of its nature, in order that the consequences
may be made to abort." Cf. op. cit., p. 261, also Lamartine, Memoires
politiques, vol. Ill, pp. 267 and 397.
1 Quentin-Bauchart, op. cit., p. 346.

CHAPTER XLIX

LOUIS NAPOLEON BONAPARTE

Lamartine's personal antipathy towards everything
appertaining to the despotic rule of the great Emperor
was as deep-rooted as long-standing. An anti-Bona-
partist by tradition and political convictions, he had not
been slow to recognize the dangers which lurked in the
hero-worship to which his contemporaries were all too
prone. To the pretender whose exploit at Strasbourg in
1836 had aroused his withering contempt, he was now
disposed to show no mercy.1 It will be remembered that
his speech on May 26, 1840, against the proposed trans-
fer of the great soldier's ashes from St. Helena to France,
was one of the most magnificent outbursts of oratorical
eloquence which had fallen from his lips during his bril-
liant parliamentary career.2 The moral courage he then
displayed in resisting, practically alone, the flood of pop-
ular enthusiasm must ever count amongst the most
meritorious of his public actions. He knew that he
courted not only unpopularity, but defeat. "J 'en ac-
cepte l'impopularite d'un jour," he proudly cried in his
eagerness to warn his compatriots of the dangers this
deification of the great War Lord must entail. Despite
the prophetic ring of his arguments, they failed to awake
an echo in a generation humiliated by over two decades of
inglorious national eclipse. The peril he had then fore-
seen now actually stared him in the face. Again he risked
what popularity still remained to him, and passionately,

1 Cf. La France parlementaire, vol. I, p. 287.

* Cf. Louis Barthou, Lamartine orateur, p. 104 ("Autour d'un Chef
d'CEuvre"), who only endorses the universal opinion of his contemporaries
and posterity.

• • 378 • '

LOUIS NAPOLEON BONAPARTE

but in less felicitous terms, denounced the certain dis-
aster to the newly acquired public liberties infatuation
must entail. "Sa Majeste Louis Bonaparte," as X. Dou-
dan l dubbed the candidate for parliamentary honours
as early as June 10, 1848, was indeed making alarmingly
rapid strides towards popularity with the masses. The
sophisms with which his adherents sought to plead his
cause met with facile credence, owing to the general feel-
ing of insecurity, both within the Chamber and, strange to
say, with leaders of the subversive parties in the streets.

Lamartine's dealings with the Prince dated from the
early days of the Provisional Government. In March he
had been approached by M. de Persigny, a trusted agent,
as to the advisability of Louis Napoleon's candidature
for a seat in the Assembly. On this occasion Lamar-
tine's action had been commendably prompt and force-
ful. Should the Prince not have left for England that
same evening, he assured the emissary, he would be ar-
rested on the morrow.2 A month later, M. Vieillard, who
had been the Prince's tutor, came on a similar errand.
Again Lamartine refused, qualifying his refusal, how-
ever, by the statement that, though determined to utilize
the Law of Banishment should the Prince insist on re-
maining in France, once the Constitution of the Republic
was duly adopted, he would himself introduce a motion
to have the decree revoked. " La republique une fois f on-
dee peut admettre tous les citoyens," he added.3

The Law of 1832 had condemned to banishment all
the princes of the Bonaparte family; nevertheless,

1 Melanges et lettres, vol. 11, p. 169.

2 Memoires politiques, vol. rv, p. 13.

3 Memoires politiques, vol. rv, p. 14. The risk to be run by admitting the
Prince to the political life of France may be gauged by the following phrase
in one of his letters, from the prison of Ham, to a friend in London: " Je ne
desire pas sortir des lieux ou je suis, car ici je suis a ma place; avec le nom
que je porte, il me faut l'ombre d'un cachot ou la lumiere du pouvoir. " Cf .
Andre Lebey, Les trois coups d'etat de Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, p. 417.

• • 379 • •

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

Lamartine made no opposition to the election to the
Chamber of Princes Pierre and Napoleon and of Prince
Murat. On May 27, M. Pietri, a warm supporter of the
Bonapartes, moved for the formal abrogation of the Law
of Exile. When the discussion was announced Lamartine
was absent from the Chamber; whether intentionally
or by accident, is doubtful. Finally the motion was taken
up by a large majority, and the decisive debate slated for
June 8.1 On this same date, however, the Prince's over-
whelming success at the polls in three departments had
singularly complicated the issue, and Lamartine realized
that energetic action was imperative. Difficult as it was
to form a reliable opinion, circumstances seemed to indi-
cate that the Assembly might not favour the unceremoni-
ous expulsion of a member whose popularity with a not
inconsiderable faction of the electorate was glaringly
evident, and who seemed, perhaps, to offer guarantees
it might be dangerous to ignore.

All these were considerations Lamartine had most
assuredly taken into account before he ventured on the
course he now adopted. On June 10 an opportunity was
afforded him, which, had he then possessed the sanction
of his colleagues, must inevitably have been crowned
with success. An interpellation called for explanations
concerning cries of "Vive l'Empereur" which had been
given vent to by a regiment of the line at Troyes. Gen-
eral Cavaignac, however, forestalled, or usurped, the
occasion, and, leaping to his feet, poured forth such an
impassioned reply that he carried the entire House with
him, amid shouts of "Vive la Republique!" Consider-

1 Cf. Quentin-Bauchart {op. tit., p. 348), who would appear to cast the
blame for the proceedings upon Lamartine's abstention. Nor had Lamar-
tine's attitude towards the Prince been invariably and thoroughly consist-
ent. In January, 1846, he had attacked Louis-Philippe's Government on
account of the King's refusal to allow the prisoner at Ham to go to his
dying father's bedside in Rome. Cf. Lebey, op. cit., p. 477.

• • 380 • •

LOUIS NAPOLEON BONAPARTE

able as the General's success had been, Lamartine quickly
realized that it had only momentarily disarmed the
Assembly, and that stringent measures were more than
ever imperative to avert permanently the peril he dis-
cerned. Louis Blanc, whose testimony is not always reli-
able, but who was certainly well informed of events
which took place at the Luxembourg, asserts that La-
martine even attempted to foment an anti-Bonapartist
manifestation by means of the factional elements under
the control of the leaders in that hot-bed of agitation.1
In view of Lamartine's conduct on June 12, the accusa-
tion is comprehensible, although the allegation is totally
unproved. Nevertheless, he was driven by circumstances,
perhaps against his better judgment, to a stratagem the
apparent insincerity of which (not to use a harsher
term) was not in accord with his wonted frank fearless-
ness and scrupulous probity. It has been hinted that,
when exacting the expulsion of Louis Napoleon, Lamar-
tine sought to reaffirm thereby his own greatly com-
promised authority, and by means of a vote of confidence
reestablish the credit of the Executive Commission.2
Referring to the military review, pompously styled
"Fete de la Concorde," which the Government had
"tactlessly" 3 organized on May 21, Lamartine reflects
on the decline of his personal popularity as demonstrated
on this occasion.4 The writer attributes the reaction to

1 Cf. Histoire de la revolution de 1848, vol. II, p. 137.

2 Quentin-Bauchart, op. cit., p. 349. 3 Stern, op. cit., vol. ill, p. 66.
4 Histoire de la revolution de 1848, vol. II, p. 456. M. Jules Simon, in his

address on the occasion of the Centenary of the poet's birth at Macon, on
October 21, 1890, expressed a diametrically opposite opinion. He then told
his hearers that, seated directly behind Lamartine, he had whispered to him
that whatever the official name given to the celebration, it was in reality
in honour of Lamartine. And he adds that such, indeed, it proved to be.
Cf. speech at Macon cited in the volume published by the Academie de
Macon, Le Centenaire de Lamartine, p. 37. A flare-up of Lamartinian popu-
larity there undoubtedly was: but it was sporadic and short-lived, and, as
has been seen, Lamartine was not its dupe. Cf. also Emile Deschanel,

• • 381 • •

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

the chagrin of the monarchical party, the ingratitude of
the proletariat, and the threatening unrest among the
idle hordes attached to the Ateliers nationaux, but recog-
nizes also the influences exerted by the Bonapartist fac-
tion, whose agents were active in all three.1 An avowed
opponent of political proscription, he nevertheless refused
to allow the ambitions of an individual to jeopardize
national order.

In his "Letter to the Ten Departments," Lamartine
states that, on June 8, in the session of the Executive
Commission, he spoke as follows: "The aspect of the
Republic afflicts me. We are marching towards a crisis.
It will not be a riot, it will not be a battle; it will be a
campaign extending over several days and in which vari-
ous factions will unite. The National Assembly, which
represents the national sovereignty, may be compro-
mised, even forced, perhaps, to leave Paris momentarily.
It is necessary that we guard against such eventuality
with all the energy of a republican State." 2 Measures for
the effective enforcement of such power he had already
taken, and was still perfecting. An imposing military
garrison, numbering over fifty-four thousand troops, was
assembled within and without the walls of the capital.
But in view of the magic of the name which it was ex-
pected would incite the masses to action, how far could
they be trusted? In Lamartine's eyes the most elemen-
tary prudence dictated that the firebrand which threat-
ened public order should be kept at a distance. Accord-
ingly he took the initiative with his colleagues, and
demanded the temporary ostracism of Louis Napoleon
Bonaparte, until such time as the secure foundations of

Lamartine, vol. n, p. 240, who qualifies it: "un dernier sourire de la Des-
tinee"; cf. also Dr. Poumies de la Siboutie (Souvenirs d'un medecin de Paris,
p. 320), who was an eye-witness.

1 Histoire de la revolution de 1848, vol. II, pp. 456 and 462.

* Op. cit., p. 31.

• • 382 • •

LOUIS NAPOLEON BONAPARTE

the Republic should be laid by the adoption of the Con-
stitution. What the action of the Assembly might be
when the Government's decree was submitted to it was
problematical. A favourable moment must be awaited.
Pocketing the decree of banishment, duly signed in
Council on the morning of June 12, Lamartine, with the
explicit consent of his colleagues, proposed to be himself
the judge of the propitious moment to make use of it.1

Meanwhile rumours of what was brewing had pre-
ceded him, and when he made his entry in the Chamber,
members of the Bonaparte family had set in motion all
the parliamentary machinery at their command to avert
or attenuate the blow. Mounting the rostrum in his turn,
Lamartine launched forth on a long recapitulation of the
services rendered by the Provisional Government, and
of the problems which confronted the Executive Com-
mission. The Assembly afforded but a listless attention
to this oft-told tale, scenting more exciting episodes to
come. A show of enthusiasm greeted the orator, however,
during a magnificent evocation of the incident of the red
flag at the Hotel de Ville. But Lamartine felt that he did
not hold his audience under the accustomed spell, and
evidences of the confusion which reigned in his mind were
clearly noticeable. Fatigue, perhaps discouragement,
overtook him, and in the midst of his impassioned ha-
rangue, he begged for a few moments of rest, seating him-
self on the steps of the tribune, his head in his hands.
Hardly had this self-imposed interruption occurred, when
shouts and the report of firearms outside the Chamber
caused the representatives to spring nervously to their
feet.

There is much conflicting testimony as to what ac-
tually took place. A shot was certainly fired close to the
General commanding the troops, and cries of "Vive

1 Histoire de la revolution de 1848, vol. 11, p. 463.
• • 383 ' '

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

l'Empereur!" were heard on many sides. But the ru-
mours which reached the Chamber were grossly (some say
wilfully) exaggerated. Lamartine's embarrassment dur-
ing the delivery of the first part of his speech had been
extreme, for the Government had, prior to the session,
despatched orders to all the Departments for the arrest
of Louis Bonaparte.1 Should the Chamber refuse to sanc-
tion this measure, grave complications must ensue.
Lamartine, who had been vainly casting about for a peg
upon which to hang his arguments, eagerly seized the
opportunity now offered him.2 Hastily remounting the
rostrum, he cried with communicative emotion: "Citi-
zens! A fatal occurrence has just interrupted the words
I was having the honour to address to this Assembly.
While I was speaking of the constitution of order, and of
the guarantees we are all disposed to furnish in order to
strengthen authority, a shot, several discharges of fire-
arms, they say, have been directed against the com-
mander of the Garde Nationale of Paris, another against
one of the brave officers of the army, a third levelled at
the breast of an officer of the National Guard. These
shots were fired to the accompaniment of cries of ' Vive
l'Empereur!'"

And, taking advantage of the intense emotion his
words aroused, he added with increasing warmth, but
with small regard for actual facts: "Gentlemen! these are
the first drops of blood which have besmirched the eter-
nally pure and glorious revolution of February 24. All
glory to the people! Hail to the various parties of the
Republic ! At least this blood has not been shed by their
hands. It has flowed, not in the name of Liberty, but
in the name of the memories of military fanaticism, and

1 Victor Pierre, Histoire de la republique de 1848, vol. I, p. 344; cf. also
Normanby (op. cit., vol. 1, p. 461), who cites a copy of the decree.

2 Quentin-Bauchart, op. cit., p. 351.

• • 384 ' •

LOUIS NAPOLEON BONAPARTE

of opinions inherently, although perhaps involuntarily,
yet inveterately hostile to any Republic." Wild enthusi-
asm greeted this outburst, for within the Chamber the
confusion of anxious uncertainty still reigned, the exact
proportions of the event being unknown. Judging the
moment opportune, Lamartine reminded his hearers that
the Government had taken all advisable precautions
against an eventuality they had only too clearly foreseen.
"This morning," he cried, "an hour before the opening of
this session, we unanimously signed a declaration which
we proposed submitting to you at its close, and which cir-
cumstances now force me to read to you immediately.
When the audacity of factions is caught red-handed,
sullied with French blood, the law must be applied by
acclamation!" * Although disapproving murmurs were
distinctly audible, the orator proceeded, undaunted, to
explain that the decree invalidating the election of Louis
Napoleon Bonaparte was in reality merely the enforce-
ment of the Law of 1832, "until such time as the As-
sembly might decide otherwise."

Lamartine tells us that on the conclusion of his speech
the whole Assembly, with the exception of eight or ten
members, rose to its feet with cries of "Vive la Repu-
blique!" ratifying by general acclamation the energetic
resolution of the Government.2 But in reality matters
did not pass quite so smoothly as he would give us to
understand. Violent opposition was made to the vote by
acclamation by adherents of the Bonapartist faction, and

1 Histoire de la revolution de 1848, vol. n, p. 464; cf. also Normanby,
op. cit., vol. 1, p. 458. In his Souvenirs de I'annee 1848, Maxime de Camp
writes that in the streets cries of "Vive Barbes!" and "Vive Napoleon!"
were uttered alternately by the same rioters, proving connivance between
the extreme socialists and the Bonapartists. Cf. op. cit., pp. 221 and 225.
Andre Lebey, in his Louts Napoleon Bonaparte et la revolution de 1848,
makes mention of this simultaneous acclamation of Barbes and Napoleon.
Cf. op. cit., vol. 1, p. 319.

2 Op. cit., vol. 11, p. 469.

• . 385 • •

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

although the majority was undoubtedly prepared (at
first) to uphold the Government, the news which now be-
gan to filter in, concerning the comparative insignificance
of the assault, produced a reaction. The moment was a
perilous one, for it made the emotion he had displayed a
few moments before appear as the artifice of an accom-
plished comedian, seeking to entrap his audience by
means of an odious subterfuge, as disloyal as it was
empty. Nevertheless, the orator continued to occupy the
rostrum, and might even now have saved the situation
and turned the tables in his favour by a show of energy
and determination. Instead of this, his hearers were now
asked to follow him upon new ground. Did he fear the
inevitable accusation, he who had been so loud, and, be
it said, so consistent, in his defence of political liberties?
Whatever the nature of his hesitation, the subject he
now broached was hardly calculated to allay the irrita-
tion which had seized upon the Chamber, for it dealt with
the accusations of complicity with leaders of subversive
factions which had been from time to time levelled against
him. As he spoke, it was evident that he was rapidly
losing his hold on his audience, and, what was worse,
their sympathy and confidence. Enumerating the heads
on which he was held guilty, he finally thundered:
"Well, yes! Undoubtedly I conspired with Sobrier, I con-
spired with Blanqui, I conspired with several others. Do
you know the nature of my conspiracies? I conspired
with them as the lightning-rod conspires with the light-
ning, in order to eliminate the electricity." !

In spite of the applause this picturesque aphorism
elicited, the temper of the Assembly forbade its being
accepted in any but its most literal form, while such was
the prejudice against him that many of his hearers were

1 La France parlemenlaire, vol. v, p. 336; cf. also Le conseiller du pcuple,
April, 1849, p. 43.

• • 386 • •

LOUIS NAPOLEON BONAPARTE

inclined to consider the sally as an attenuated confession
of his guilt. With the opening of the session on June 13,
it became apparent that public opinion was much in-
disposed towards the Executive Commission as a whole,
and towards Lamartine in particular on account of the
" trap " which it was believed had been set on the previous
day. The Government's action with regard to Louis
Napoleon was felt to be unjust if it had been expedient,
and most inexpedient even if it had been just. Lamartine
took no part in the debate which followed, leaving to
Ledru-Rollin the arduous task of vindicating the Govern-
ment against the allegations brought forward by Jules
Favre, their former colleague. The false step of the
previous day cost the Government dear. With biting
sarcasm, Favre, "a master in the art of passionless in-
vective," was pitiless in his exposure of the contradictory
action of Lamartine and his associates, holding up to
scorn their faults of omission and commission, and prov-
ing logically that the Law of 1832, for the exclusion of
the Bonaparte family, had been virtually and recently re-
pealed by the Assembly, and under the inspiration of the
Government which now sought to enforce the expulsion
of a legally elected representative of the people.1

The vote which followed was a blow aimed directly at
Lamartine, who impulsively tendered his resignation,
but with equal haste allowed himself to be persuaded to
withdraw it. "He was wrong to withdraw his resigna-
tion," writes his apologist, Charles Alexandre; adding
that he did so prompted by generous abnegation and a
wild sentiment of self-sacrifice, in order not to desert the
field on the eve of battle.2 His friends had approved the
first impulse, and Dargaud, writing to Alexandre on
June 14, clearly foreshadowed the inevitable consequences

1 Normanby, op. cit., vol. i, pp. 465 and 467.

2 Souvenirs sur Lamartine, p. 129.

• • 387 • •

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

of the admission of Louis Bonaparte to the Assembly.
Since he was powerless to avert the catastrophe, it were
better that Lamartine be freed from official responsibility.
"M. de Lamartine," he assures his correspondent, " n'a
dendrite ni de la France, ni de l'Europe, ni de la pos-
terity"; 1 but his reputation, it was felt by those who had
his interests at heart, might suffer should he persist in
clinging to a forlorn hope.

Giving extracts from Dargaud's journal, M. Jean des
Cognets notes the moral and physical lassitude which
assailed Lamartine at this period. "Often on returning
home he avoided the circle of friends awaiting him, and
took refuge in his bed " ; much to the disgust of the Legi-
timists, who continued to haunt his wife's salon in the
hope of finding protection under the roof of the popular
idol, and who, noting the decline of his influence, blamed
him for having aroused passions he was no longer capable
of controlling.2 The process of slow and methodical
strangulation adopted by the Assembly was telling on
him; yet he struggled on, losing ground day by day.
"Ce n'est pas assez dire," wrote Dargaud, "que la popu-
lar^ de M. de Lamartine baissait, elle s'abimait sous
ses pieds." 3 And the faithful friend and trusted confidant
goes on to relate the arguments he used in his endeavour
to persuade Lamartine to retire. Everywhere it was
said, he told him, that it was personal ambition which
caused him to retain his position on the Executive Com-
mission and that, realizing his impotency, he merely re-
mained with folded arms. To all of which Lamartine
sadly shook his head, remarking: "If I fail in my duty
towards my colleagues, there will be a universal uprising
both in the Assembly and in the streets; the Constitution
will not be formulated, or it will be achieved only amid

1 Souvenirs sur Lamartine, p. 128.

2 La vie interieure de Lamartine, p. 412. 8 Ibid., p. 417.

• • 388 • •

LOUIS NAPOLEON BONAPARTE

the discharge of firearms. Moreover, I expect a struggle,
either with the Orleanist Regency or with the Ateliers na-
tionaux. I must prepare for the battle and be victorious.
With this end in view I submit to the insults of those who
dared not utter a word when I saved the Hotel de Ville.
I make myself small, humble, patient, in order that I
may obtain noble results. I make myself as a grain of
sand in the mortar which shall cement the Republic." !

The dream of the Orleanists did not, perhaps, con-
stitute a very serious menace to the Republic: the col-
lapse of Louis-Philippe's Government had been too
complete to authorize dynastic ambitions at this early
date. But the problem of the dissolution of the Ateliers
nationaux was a real and ever-increasing source of peril.
What was to be done with this army of over a hundred
thousand men who looked to their leaders at the Luxem-
bourg for bread? Lamartine had proposed several
measures for the gradual dispersal of this dangerous
social element. He contended that many might be em-
ployed with profit on public works in Algeria; others
might be furnished with billets in private industrial
enterprises; or on the construction of railways in the
provinces ; others again be enrolled in the army. But the
Assembly would listen to none of these, and, by its decree
abolishing suddenly and without preparation the Ateliers
nationaux, hastened the inevitable catastrophe Lamar-
tine had foreseen.

Did the Assembly lend itself on this occasion to the
manoeuvres of the Bonapartists in order to be rid of the
obnoxious Executive Commission? 2 Lamartine would
seem to have believed such action probable, for he en-
trusted negotiations concerning the Ateliers to hench-
men such as Marie and Garnier-Pages, occupying him-

1 La vie interieure de Lamartine, p. 418.

2 Cf. Des Cognets, op. cit., p. 420, and Quentin-Bauchart, op. cit., p. 358.

• . 389 • •

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

self almost exclusively with the task of uniting in or near
Paris a military force adequate to cope with the disorders
he so clearly foresaw.

The Bonapartist plot, through the recent action of
the Prince, seemed, at least temporarily, quiescent. On
June 14, Louis Napoleon had addressed a letter to the
President of the Chamber stating, somewhat equivocally,
it is true, that in view of the disorders his election had
given rise to, he would prefer to remain in exile. A
phrase in this letter had caused, however, an outburst of
what Lord Normanby calls "rabid fury." 1 "Si le peuple
m'impose des devoirs," the Prince wrote, "je saurai les
remplir." As no mention was made of the Republic,
these words were construed as indicating dynastic am-
bitions. Two days later the session was opened with the
reading of a second letter, in which Louis Napoleon ex-
pressed his desire for the maintenance of "une Repu-
blique sage, grande, et intelligente," and in order to facil-
itate this end, in spite of the preference shown him in
five Departments, he tendered his resignation. Again to
quote Lord Normanby, who was an eye-witness of the
scenes in the Chamber, " this announcement was received
with evident satisfaction by almost all the Assembly,
except the Executive Council." 2 And the Ambassador
adds: "I have little doubt that they regretted the oc-
casion which they thought an alleged conspiracy on his
part might have given them, to have made the Assembly
feel itself in the wrong in the dispute which they had had
with reference to him, and have induced them, by vot-
ing either his arrest or his exclusion, to continue their
official tenure on their own terms." Lord Normanby
believed that the position of the Executive Commission
was thereby made a "very absurd" one, and that by
reason of their excessive zeal they in reality only added
1 Normanby, op. cii., vol. 1, p. 476. ' Ibid., p. 480.

• • 390 • •

LOUIS NAPOLEON BONAPARTE

to the "odium" with which the Government was re-
garded. Severe as the judgment seems, there is undoubt-
edly a grain of truth in it, at least as far as some of the
members of the Council were concerned.

As for Lamartine, opinions differ. That he was actu-
ated by consideration of personal ambition the testimony
of his intimates denies. But he did still cling to the illu-
sion that his presence in the Government was useful, nay,
a necessity to its very existence. "When the ship is leak-
ing," he told Dargaud, who urged his retirement, "I am
ready to act as a bolt in order to repair it, even if it be
only as a plug to stop a hole." * Nor was this humility
assumed. The sacrifice of his popularity must be made,
and he was prepared to drain the cup to the dregs. Writ-
ing to the Marquis Gino Capponi, in Florence, he says:
"At this moment I am at the bottom of the wheel of
political fortune. But I wished it, in order to establish the
Republic on a basis of concord." 2

Unfortunately, the sacrifice was a vain one. Fearing
to risk popular disfavour, influenced also by the Bona-
partists in the House who were playing a waiting game,
the Assembly declined to accept Louis Napoleon's res-
ignation, and contented themselves by referring the
matter to the Minister of the Interior. This action was
taken on the purely technical ground that the Prince's
admission was conditional, "subject to proof of age and
nationality," and that the resignation could therefore
not be accepted.3 But the subterfuge was undoubtedly
resorted to in view of the growing sentiment in the streets,
and was perhaps dictated as much by hostility towards
Lamartine as by any real sympathy with a movement the
ultimate issue of which was patent. "La France a pris

1 Des Cognets, op. tit., p. 418.

2 Correspondance, dccccxxxi, July 30, 1848.
8 Stern, op. cit., vol. m, p. 109.

• • 391 • •

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

la Republique au serieux, elle la defendra contre tous,"
Lamartine had assured his hearers on June 12. That he
had been mistaken, even at this early date, was to be-
come more and more apparent. What France wanted
was the reestablishment of civic order, the peaceful re-
sumption of the affairs of daily life. This the Govern-
ment in power seemed unable to guarantee; and the mass
of the population, the bourgeoisie at its head, looked to
the advent of a strong man whose prestige, military or
dynastic, could save them from the fruitless and ruinous
agitation of the demagogues. In an emergency Lamartine
had proved himself a strong man, indeed; but the steady
routine of practical politics was certainly not his forte.
The gradual decline of his popularity was due less to a
mere whim on the part of those who had idolized the
heroic defender of public liberties at the H6tel de Ville,
than to a calm and unbiassed appreciation of the fact
that his very moderation was now detrimental to the cause
he had so nobly espoused. There are cases when surgical
intervention becomes imperative. Such a crisis had now
been reached, and Lamartine was no expert with the
knife, clever diagnostician though he be. His psychological
insight had been at fault : the propitious moment for per-
sonal energetic action had been allowed to pass. Lacking
the temperament of a dictator, he henceforth found him-
self relegated to a position of political passivity which
became as gall and wormwood to his soul. This result
had been deemed inevitable by many impartial observers
who watched the closing scenes of those stirring times.
Donald Mitchell ("Ik Marvel"), in his "Battle Sum-
mer," writing of Lamartine's "magnificent scheme of a
Christianized Government," admits that "already, he has
sought to warp his pure governmental philosophy into a
philosophy of expedients." And a few paragraphs further
he adds: "His views of humanity are too poetic for a

• • 392 • •

LOUIS NAPOLEON BONAPARTE

statesman; they are not morbid, but glowing with his
own generous intent. He counts mankind — and French-
kind specially — better than it is. He sees no need of
cautions, since he ignores the evils which those cautions
are to prevent. His kindness is his weakness; and his
humanity betrays his judgment. Such a man, in our day,
should not be without honour, even when fallen!" x This
foreign critic, a spectator of Lamartine's heroic effort,
expresses himself convinced that, in his fall, he will carry
with him "a good heart and good intentions, and the
name of having done a good, honest man's work!"

1 Op. cit,, p. 262. In his amusing memoirs extending over half a century
(1830-80), Arsene Houssaye every now and then touches on a more serious
note. Commenting on Lamartine's popularity in 1848, he writes that he
might have aspired to any position, even that of Emperor: "car alors la
vraie France etait lamartinienne." But he let the opportunity slip. "He
had energy for good," adds this critic, "but in order to become a master
of men one must have strength for good and evil. Is it not Talleyrand
who says: 'En politique l'honneur et la vertu ne sont que des fantomes'? "
Cf. Les Confessions, vol. 11, p. 315.

CHAPTER L
THE INSURRECTION OF HUNGER

The days of the Executive Commission were numbered.
On several occasions Lamartine had urged his colleagues
to hand over to the Assembly the semblance of power
they still maintained. But until this was unanimously
decided, he would not desert the sinking ship.1

Every day angry crowds assembled in the neighbour-
hood of the Chamber, some clamouring for the dissolu-
tion of the Ateliers nationaux, others protesting that the
workmen were worthy of their wage. On June 21, the
Executive Commission, inspired by the very general opin-
ion prevailing in the Assembly,2 decided to act, and issued
a decree deporting to the provinces the bulk of the bene-
ficiaries of this State charity. But this precaution was
adopted too late. The violent agitation, which was uni-
versal on the 22d, was followed on the morrow by the
sudden erection of barricades in many quarters of the
capital. Lamartine, who had been tireless in his efforts
to induce General Cavaignac to prepare efficacious sup-
port,3 now urged the commander to wage the struggle
"asa battle, and not as a disseminated series of attacks
against the rioters." 4 Cries of "A bas Lamartine!'
clearly demonstrated that the malcontents held the erst-
while popular hero accountable for the decision which
had been taken. Noting an equally significant disposi-
tion in the Chamber to be rid of the Executive, Lamar-
tine proudly refused to resign until order had been re-

1 Histoire de la revolution de 1848, vol. 11, p. 471.

* Cf. Quentin-Bauchart, op. cit., p. 362.

• Cf. Rapport de la commission d'enquite, vol. I, p. 306.
' Mcmoites poliliques, vol. iv, p. 7.

. . 394 . .

THE INSURRECTION OF HUNGER

stored. As he told M. Bonjean, who urged the Assembly
to delegate a certain number of national representatives
to march with the troops, it behooved members of the
Government alone to fulfil this dangerous task; at the
same time proclaiming: "After the victory of order, we
will hold ourselves at the disposal of the Assembly." *

Fighting had now become general in most quarters of
Paris, already with great loss of life on both sides. De-
spite the very tangible causes of the insurrection, insinu-
ations were rife as to the r61e played by "foreign gold." 2
It was said that Russian and English gold was found on
the rebels.3 That to many foreign potentates the prin-
ciples proclaimed by the Republic were hateful, there is
no question. But the fact that some of the adherents of
the clubs sympathized with the Bonapartists is not proof
positive of their venality. The insurrection of June was
not a concerted action: it was the sudden, irresistible
explosion of despair.4 Without doubt the Bonapartists
seized the opportunity of fraternizing with the proletariat,
and, if we credit the contemporaneous republican press,
large sums were disbursed by imperialist agents in the
furtherance of their cause.5

But the crisis which had been reached was the result
of social rather than political considerations. The eco-
nomic difficulties of the lower classes had, indeed, be-
come unbearable, and the sudden dissolution of the vast
almshouse, dignified by the euphemistic appellation of
Ateliers nationaux, was the last straw. Louis Blanc aptly

1 Cf. La France parlementaire, vol. v, p. 340; also Des Cognets, op. cit.,
p. 420.

2 As statements to this effect were made officially in the Chamber, Lord
Normanby took the matter up. Cf. op. cit., vol. 11, pp. 29 and 36.

3 Maxime du Camp, op. cit., p. 297.

4 Cf. Andre Lebey {op. cit., vol. 1, p. 339), who cites Louis Blanc and
George Sand, and also Stern.

6 Robert Pimienta, La propagande Bonapartiste en 1848, pp. 40, 44,
and 72.

. • 395 . .

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

termed the popular revolt "the insurrection of Hunger."1
The very cry of the discharged workmen and their sym-
pathizers, as they marched through the streets, was sig-
nificant enough. "Du pain ou du plomb!" they vocifer-
ated; bread for their starving families, or bullets for
themselves and those who had brought them to this
pass. The socialist Blanc is fair enough when he stigma-
tizes this huge expenditure of the public funds on humili-
ating and fictitious labour "as sterile as almsgiving, and
as hypocritical." 2

Lamartine from the outset had frowned upon what, for
lack of a better term, was styled the "Organization of
Labour," and warned his hearers against what was, in a
way, a privileged class. A democrat in the true sense,
he maintained that all men should accept the responsi-
bilities enfranchisement entailed. To paraphrase Ca-
vour's famous aphorism, he advocated "Free Labour
in a Free State." 3 As early as 1843, writing to his friend
M. Chambolle, Lamartine urged: "Organisons cette
belle nation en democratic puissante et reguliere." 4
Perhaps at that moment he did not grasp the full import
of the complications which must inevitably arise during
this reconstructive process of the political body : perhaps
he was somewhat vague as to the steps to be taken. But
he was unquestionably sincere as to the principles he
professed, and the future was to vindicate his contention.
Defending himself at a later date against vituperations
and the accusation of having followed a chimerical pol-
icy, the democracy he advocated being invariably van-
quished by demagogy, he maintained that had Cavaignac
made energetic use of the amply sufficient troops his
(Lamartine's) foresight had assembled in Paris, "the

1 Histoire de la revolution de 1848, vol. n, p. 126. * Ibid., p. 127.

* "L'figlise libre dans un £tat libre," was Cavour's dictum.
4 Cf. A. Chambolle, Retours sur la vie, p. 490.

• • 396 • •

THE INSURRECTION OF HUNGER

hesitating demagogues could have been crushed in an
hour under the heel of armed democracy." 1

During those fateful days of June the responsibility
rested not on Lamartine, but with the General whose
indecision or stubbornness squandered hundreds of pre-
cious lives. The reproachful wail, "Du pain ou du
plomb," was no political catchword, although it was the
direct result of a political blunder, magnified by politi-
cians and demagogues as a political crime. The strikers, for
such they really were, went forth to battle, not against the
Republic nor against Democracy, but protesting against
the violation of a compact. That the movement rapidly
degenerated into civil war, with all its attendant horrors,
was as much the result of intrigues within the Assembly
as of any ill-considered action on the part of the Execu-
tive Commission ; or, to go farther back, of the reckless
expedient sanctioned by the Provisional Government.

In the turmoil which ensued after the outbreak on the
23d, the Government, fearing to be cut off from the
Assembly, established their headquarters, with those of
Cavaignac, in the apartments allotted to the President
of the Chamber. Discouraged, nay despairing, Lamar-
tine sought to spur the General to energetic action. He
mentions a plan of battle drawn up with the combined
consent of the Executive and the military chief.2 But for
one reason or another Cavaignac hesitated to carry out
the very drastic measures advocated. Moreover, it
would appear that his orders were not executed with the
rapidity and fidelity he had a right to expect.3 He has
been accused of temporizing with the insurgents in order
to be rid of the control exercised by the Executive, and

1 Memoires politiques, vol. in, p. 427. For minute details cf. Rapport
de la commission d'enquele, vol. 11, p. 212, et seq. Odilon Barrot was Presi-
dent of the Committee.

2 Memoires politiques, vol. in, pp. 416-20.

8 Ibid., p. 418, and Louis Blanc, op. cit., vol. n, p. 144.

. • 397 . .

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

to further his personal ambitions.1 That there was
blundering is certain; but no documentary evidence of
treachery is forthcoming, and Cavaignac's subsequent
conduct absolves him of all suspicion of selfish motives.
Towards five o'clock that afternoon, Lamartine, de-
spondent, but still trusting to the personal magnetism
he exercised, determined himself to direct operations on
the Boulevards. His horses had been saddled since the
morning in view of the eventualities this momentous
23d of June might bring forth. Mounting "Saphyr,"
followed by Pierre Bonaparte on another of his horses,
and a small escort, he hastened to the Boulevard du
Temple, where the insurgents lay entrenched behind
their barricades. "Lamartine desirait la mort," he wrote
at a later date in his "Memoires politiques," explaining
that he did so on account of the "odious responsibility
of blood which must so unjustly, but inevitably, weigh
upon him." 2 He certainly exposed his person recklessly,
pushing forward to the barricades and haranguing friends
and foes alike under a murderous cross-fire. On the
arrival of Cavaignac with a couple of thousand men, an
attempt was made to dislodge the rebels. Led by Lamar-
tine in person, in the glare of lightning, the roar of thun-
der, and the furious downpour of a summer storm, the
young troops were finally victorious. The assault cost
the defenders of order some four hundred dead and
wounded. The horse Lamartine was riding was wounded ;
the one he had lent to Pierre Bonaparte was killed.
Charles Alexandre writes that the insurgents themselves
shared the enthusiasm Lamartine's presence aroused,
and that, professing their love for him and their distrust
of the Assembly, they called upon him to save them,

1 Louis Blanc, op. cit., vol. 11, p. 143. By no means an impartial his-
torian, however, in spite of his personal honesty of purpose.

1 Op. cit., vol. in, p. 422; cf. also Thiel, Seize mots de commandcment de la
garde nalionale ; and Henri de Lacretelle, Lamartine et ses amis, p. 141.

• • 398 • •

THE INSURRECTION OF HUNGER

to guide and command them, adding that should he
consent to do so, they would themselves disarm their
companions.1

Perhaps isolated groups, realizing the hopelessness of
a prolonged struggle with the military, made such over-
tures. Lamartine himself, when mentioning this episode,
does not give us to understand that the crowd which wel-
comed him was composed of rebels in arms. Nor is it
probable that this was the case, as men whose blood was
fired with the lust of battle would hardly have "plun-
dered the florists' shops in order to cover his horse with
flowers." 2 The scene as related by Lamartine, and re-
ported by the more enthusiastic of his biographers,3 is
doubtless a remnant of the incorrigible optimism which
characterized the poet, always inseparable from the
statesman and historian. Nor was Lamartine himself
(at that time) the dupe of any ephemeral outburst of
enthusiasm his undoubted heroism in the face of peril
may have called forth. Seen in retrospect these isolated
tokens of sympathy assumed the aspect of universal
acclamations. The testimony of many an eye-witness is,
however, available to correct the sanguine allegations
of a later date. In the fourth volume of the "Memoires
politiques" Lamartine even seeks to shield his own re-
sponsibility at the expense of Cavaignac. Mortification
over his fall, mingled with a not unnatural jealousy at
the success of the man he had himself recalled from Africa
and placed in a prominent position, warped his judg-
ment. "His chagrin was the greater," opines M. Quentin-
Bauchart, "because he honestly believed that he (La-
martine) had saved his country, while Cavaignac had
merely carried out his orders, and even executed them

1 Souvenirs de Lamartine; also Memoires politiques, vol. ill, p. 423.

8 Memoires politiques, vol. ill, p. 424.

* Alexandre among others. Cf. op. cit., p. 134.

• • 399 * •

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

badly." ! "La victoire des journ6es de juin," wrote
Lamartine in 1863, "etait en grande partie ma victoire;
car seul j'avais prevu la bataille, seul j'avais organist
le combat." 2 And, expatiating on the injustice done
him, and the motives which prompted the resignation of
the Executive Commission, he avers: "J'avais sauv6 la
patrie par l'habile nomination du general."

Few will presume to contest Lamartine's claims on
the gratitude of his country. But the impartial critic
must perforce admit that with the insurrection of June
the hour of his public utility had passed. Morally, if not
technically, he was responsible for the blunders and errors
of policy which brought about this regrettable eclipse of
a glorious career. The pronounced personal hostility he
encountered in the Assembly was due to various causes:
some were purely party considerations, others base and
unworthy ambitions. Yet, when on June 24, at eight
o'clock in the morning, a number of representatives
forced the door of the Council Chamber and urged the
Executive to resign in favour of a military dictatorship,
these men were undoubtedly actuated as much by con-
siderations of public safety as by personal antagonism.
The Government had, by its sins of commission or omis-
sion, proved itself incapable of protecting life and prop-
erty, and it was felt the restoration of order must be
entrusted to more energetic hands. Acting in this spirit,
at ten o'clock that same morning, the Assembly, in per-
manent session, gave full civil power, as well as military,
to General Cavaignac, nominating him temporary Dic-
tator and establishing a state of siege in Paris.

Lamartine, in the name of his colleagues, immediately
drafted the following dignified acceptance of the national
decree: "The Executive Commission must have failed

1 Op. cit. (La politique interieure), p. 366.

2 Mcmoires politiques, vol. iv, p. 3.

• • 400 • •

THE INSURRECTION OF HUNGER

at once in its duties and its honour by retiring in face of
a public danger. It is only in consequence of the vote of
the Assembly that it now withdraws. In yielding up the
powers with which you invested it, its members merge
themselves in the ranks of the national representatives,
to face, with you, the common peril, and to devote them-
selves to the welfare of the Republic." 1 Humiliating as
the ousting of the Executive Commission was to its mem-
bers, none were taken by surprise. The surreptitious
manoeuvres of Armand Marrast, Mayor of Paris, and the
so-called party of the "National," a paper which had
played a leading part during the Revolution of Feb-
ruary, were known to all. When Cavaignac was nomi-
nated Minister of War, this party discerned in him the
ideal successor of Lamartine, whose personal independ-
ence and suspicious connection with the leaders of the
clubs had given umbrage to his erstwhile supporters.
Gradually the ranks of the conspirators were strength-
ened by the adherence of members of the Assembly who,
while perhaps not unreservedly hand in glove with the
party with which they joined issues, could not forgive
Lamartine his insistence on the adjunction of Ledru-
Rollin to the Executive. The insufficiency of the Execu-
tive Commission was recognized by all. Yet, despite
general dissatisfaction, principally owing to the prestige
which even now surrounded Lamartine, it still inspired
a certain respect. It was felt, moreover, that in ousting
it certain principles inherent to the Revolution of Feb-
ruary must be sacrificed. Desirous as were its opponents
to encompass its overthrow, they wished to proceed
without brutality.2 Hence the dual motives, fear and
resentment, which actuated the Assembly when, with-
out formally deposing the Commission that they had

1 La France parlementaire, vol. v, p. 342.

2 Cf. Quentin-Bauchart, op. cit., p. 367.

• • 401 • •

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

elected, they adopted the motion of Pascal Duprat,
which delegated all executive powers to General Cavai-
gnac : a subterfuge which rendered the resignation of the
Commission imperative.1

Dargaud says that a few days later he encountered
Ledru-Rollin on the stairs of Lamartine's house. On
entering, his friend repeated to him the conversation
which had just taken place. "I told him," said Lamar-
tine, "that we could never again join forces, because, al-
though for political reasons we had worked together,
our natures were too far apart to permit of intercourse." 2
Thus ended a political association which had, indeed,
cost him dear. If not the prime cause of his loss of pop-
ularity and of the antagonism of the Assembly, it was
certainly one of the factors which contributed the most
to his political undoing.3

Hardly had the lauded idol of the H6tel de Ville been
hurled from his pedestal, before the thousand tongues
of calumny were loosened. The erstwhile popular hero
was now accused of the most monstrous iniquities.
Insulting pamphlets were hawked about the streets, hold-
ing him up to the execration of his fellow-citizens. His
pact with the communists was openly denounced; the
deceit he had practised upon the labouring classes, made
apparent; his handiwork in the demonstrations of March
17 and April 16, shown up in the light of ignominious per-
sonal ambition; and the terrible days of June, attributed
directly to his weakness and indecision. Even his private
life did not escape the fury of his detractors. His in-
tegrity was impugned, it being currently asserted that
during his tenure of office he had abstracted from the
Public Treasury sums varying between twelve hundred
thousand and two million francs, and had employed them

1 Cf. De Freycinet, Souvenirs, vol. I, p. 47.

* Des Cognets, op. cit., p. 423. 3 Contra, Lacretelle, op. cit., p. 142.

. . 402 • •

THE INSURRECTION OF HUNGER

in paying off private debts and for the purchase of estates
in France and houses in London. To such lengths did his
traducers go that Lamartine was finally constrained to
take the matter up publicly, and, in his "Letter to the
Ten Departments," specifically refute the outrageous
accusations levelled against his honour.1 Although with
impartial judges he had no difficulty in vindicating the
purity of his actions as well as his motives, some of the
mud thrown against him inevitably sullied his reputa-
tion in the eyes of those who had been disappointed or
deceived concerning the material or moral results of the
Revolution he had patronized.

"J'avais du Mirabeau dans l'arriere-pensee de ma
vie," wrote Lamartine when commenting (in i860) on the
political fires of his youth.2 In a sense the destinies of
these two greatest of French orators were alike. Both, by
virtue of their marvellous eloquence, swayed and guided
their countrymen in crises not wholly dissimilar: both
overreached and compromised themselves. But here the
analogy ceases, for Mirabeau was convicted of double-
dealing in his relations with Court and Assembly, while
Lamartine never for an instant wavered in his fidelity
and allegiance to the Republic, although his tactics lent
colour to momentary misconstruction.

Defending his action at a later date (1856) he confesses
that in 1848, "J'etais un republicain improvise." His

1 Cf. op. cit., passim, published August 25, 1848. In the details of his
private affairs, Lamartine states that the half-million of debts which he
paid off came in part from the royalties on his Histoire des Girondins and
from the sale of some of his estates. Moreover, he makes a confession which
redounds to his everlasting credit. A few days prior to February 24, he
had negotiated the sale of his literary works for five hundred and forty
thousand francs. The crisis which followed on the Revolution was a terrible
one for his publishers. Realizing their situation, he voluntarily destroyed
the contract. Cf. also Rdouard Dubois et Lamartine, by J. Caplain (" Les
Finances de Lamartine," p. 65 et seq.), who gives many curious and edifying
details of financial transactions at this period.

2 Cf. Cours de litterature, vol. x, p. 246.

• • 403 ' •

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

republicanism was, moreover, of the most conservative
type. He fought for the preservation of life, order, free-
dom of religious opinion, equality before the law, respect
of private property, harmony between social classes, the
peace of Europe, and the strict observance of international
treaties.1 During those three months of power he dis-
countenanced the application of each half-baked so-
cialistic theory the radicals demanded, including the
organization of labour, although he advocated a law ac-
knowledging " le droit de vivre" — a distinction too sub-
tle to be grasped by the popular mind. But he realized
the danger attending a too sudden and radical grant of
political increment to the masses, and his effort tended,
not to restrict public liberties, forsooth, but to allow of
suitable preparation. There is a world of truth in an
aphorism of his which lies buried, with countless other
treasures, within the twenty-eight octavo volumes of the
"Cours familierde litterature." Writing on the aims and
ambitions, political and social, which constituted at once
the force and the weakness of the Revolution of February,
1848, he exclaims : "Chaque r6volution estun pas versle
vrai, si elle veut en faire dix, elle tombe dans la fausse
utopie et dans l'impossible." 2

Despite the bloody excesses of the days of June, he was
convinced of the truth of this axiom. "Voila les revolu-
tions," he concluded in his "Letter to the Ten Depart-
ments" which had overwhelmingly elected him in April:
"... Leurs plus grands phenomenes ne sont pas leurs
crimes, ce sont leurs erreurs." 3

For those "errors" Lamartine was in a measure re-

1 Cours de litterature, vol. 11, p. 35. 2 Op. cit., vol. XV, p. 223.

3 Letlre aux dix departements, p. 34. It will be remembered that the
Archbishop of Paris, Mgr. Afire, was killed on a barricade while exhorting
the rebels. The assassination of Generals Brea and Negrier, victims to their
duty, must also be added to the long list of crimes perpetrated during those
awful days. Cf. Stern, Histoire de la revolution de 1848, vol. m, p. 193.

. . 404 • •

THE INSURRECTION OF HUNGER

sponsible. Yet his had invariably been the restraining
influence. "It was the sad end of the dictatorship of
eloquence and imagination," writes Charles de Mazade.1
He had played with fire, taking risks a less optimistic,
and above all a less imaginative, nature would have
hesitated to assume: which, indeed, a prosaic statesman
such as Thiers declined to hazard.2

The inevitable reaction had set in, and even the strong
arm of a military dictator like Cavaignac was to prove
powerless long to stem the irresistible current, which was
to sweep away the Republic itself.

1 Lamarline, p. 186.

2 Describing a dinner party in Paris on February 25, 1851, Count
Hubner, the Austrian Ambassador, speaking of Thiers, writes: "II se
developpe comme high tory et protectionniste. Quel cameleon I " Cf . Souve-
nirs d'un ambassadeur, vol. 1, p. 10.

CHAPTER LI
THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

In one of Daudet's novels, an old priest, the Abbe
Germane, philosophically remarks: "For the great sor-
rows of life I know of but three antidotes : work, prayer,
and a pipe." Eventually Lamartine found salvation in
this trinity.

But the blow to his pride had been a terrible one. A
period of profound moral depression was the inevitable
sequel to his fall. The ever-faithful Dargaud found him
wrapped in "stoical indifference," and his exhortations
only elicited a grudging admission that the world might
still hold some promise of relief. "I am not blase con-
cerning art, religion, or friendship," vouchsafed Lamar-
tine, "but I am disgusted with politics. As a statesman
and a tribune my career is closed. That cord is broken." '
Suffering physically as well as morally, the disappointed
man's condition was a cause of deep anxiety to wife and
friends. Fortunately, with the help of Madame de Lamar-
tine, Dargaud was able to persuade his friend to break tem-
porarily with painful associations and surroundings, and
take up his residence in the peaceful Bois de Boulogne,
at Castel-Madrid. Here he was close enough to the cap-
ital in case of need, yet sufficiently isolated to escape im-
portunate visitors. Lord Normanby, who drove out to
see him on July 9, writes: "I found him looking very
much altered, evidently much affected by his present
position, though talking of it as the result of popular
injustice, which he should survive. He went over the old
ground with me, of the reasons for his connection with

1 Dargaud's Journal, cited by Des Cognets, op. cit., p. 425.
• • 406 • •

THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

Ledru-Rollin." * To the end of his life explanations of
this fidelity to his colleague formed, indeed, his constant
preoccupation. In the pages of the "Conseiller du
peuple" and the "Cours de litterature" references to this
subject are recurrent. Plausible as some of these con-
tentions are, they fail to carry conviction, and most
critics share the British Ambassador's scepticism as to
the political prescience displayed.

But his cup of bitterness was not yet drained. The
Assembly added to his humiliations by ordering an in-
quest concerning May 15 and the days of June, and the
Commission appointed for this investigation pushed its
searching tentacles as far afield as the dissensions existing
in the Provisional Government during the early stages of
the Revolution.

Although, writing to Lacretelle on August 6, Lamar-
tine professes not to fear discussion, yet he terms the
inquest the "machine infernale de 1848," adding that
he will do his best to circumscribe it. "I want peace," he
continues; "I will see that the Republic gets peace, or I
will perish in the attempt." 2 This desire for peace was
not a selfish one, having in view his individual tranquil-
lity, but owing to his conviction that concord alone
could ensure the adoption of the Constitution which was
to crown the Republic. To this end he was determined
to sacrifice himself without stint, making use of the vestige
of prestige which still clung to his name and fame.

The inquest touched him but indirectly, for all parties
realized that Lamartine had been more sinned against
than sinning. Nevertheless, the moment was a critical
one. Pale and calm he listened, on August 3, to the first
reading of the report. Hesitating to attack personally
the erstwhile popular idol, the drafters took as scapegoats
Ledru-Rollin, Caussidiere, and Louis Blanc. Ledru-Rol-

1 Normanby, op. cit., vol. II, p. 107. 2 Correspondence, dccccxxiii.
• • 407 • •

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

lin, full of resource and remarkably talented, successfully
exculpated himself. The two others were less lucky or
less clever, and the Assembly eventually authorized pro-
ceedings being taken against them. During the long and
painful debate which took place on August 25, Lamar-
tine fully realized that behind these victims he himself
was aimed at. Again and again he was tempted to inter-
vene: but he yielded to the urgent pleadings of friends
and remained silent. "If I am personally besmirched, I
shall speak," he indignantly warned Victor Hugo, who
was present. "Believe me, not even then," urged the
poet. "Let us expostulate over the wounds of France,
but not when our own scratches are concerned." 1

The political prestige which still adhered to his name
proved greater than might have been expected, given the
circumstances attending his fall. When, on October 6,
he mounted the rostrum to speak on the absorbing ques-
tion of the Constitution, and the methods to be adopted
in the forthcoming presidential elections, the interest
demonstrated by the Assembly was intense. Between
September 6 and this date he had, indeed, spoken on four
occasions concerning problems connected with the elabo-
ration of the Constitution, but these discourses had par-
taken more of a philosophical than of a concrete nature,
dealing, as they did, with abstract social and political
ideals; were in fact what M. Barthou terms "a public ex-
amination of his political conscience." 2 Nevertheless, his
eloquence was as persuasive as ever, and on October 6
he attained the highest summit to which his oratorical
genius had ever soared. But, again to quote M. Bar-
thou, "his clairvoyance is no longer the same. It would
appear at times that the gift of prophecy which had in-
spired such extraordinary insight had abandoned him,

1 Cf. Victor Hugo, Choses vues, p. 78.

2 Lamartine, orateur politique, p. 277.

. . 408 • •

THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

or that perhaps he resigned himself to the fatalism of
events." * Be this as it may, his speeches during Sep-
tember, and that of October 6, give evidence of a singu-
larly clear mind: the mind, moreover, not of a dreamer,
but of a precursor who foresees all the social problems
which the theories he advances must entail, and who in-
tuitively catches glimpses of practical solutions much as
they exist to-day.2 Vague as are the indications of any
concrete political programme, the study of these speeches
affords invaluable material for a true appreciation of the
mentality of the man who had so recently witnessed the
shipwreck of so many of his social illusions. M. Barthou
is right when he blames the statesman for losing himself
in a maze of philosophical consideration, the brilliancy
of which fails to conceal the perilous indecision under
which he laboured. That Lamartine should have hesi-
tated, under the circumstances, to dogmatize, is incon-
ceivable. He was aware of the fragility of his credit with
the Assembly. It behooved him to be prudent; tenta-
tive even. Yet, stripped of ornamental verbiage and re-
duced to essentials, the "recommendations" he essayed
denote the germs of a policy he had long made his own.3
When M. Barthou qualifies his admiration for the speech
of October 6, by asserting that "la these, malheureuse-
ment, valait moins que le discours," his criticism is dic-
tated by his knowledge of subsequent events.4 Unfor-
tunately for Lamartine, and for France, the thesis was to
prove fallacious: for France, because its adoption by the
Assembly led to the overthrow of the Republic; for La-
martine, since it led to accusations of personal ambitions,
which even the most fervent of his biographers have been
powerless to dispel or disprove totally.

1 Lamartine, orateur politique, p. 274.

* Cf. La France parlementaire, vol. v, pp. 392-470, passim.

3 Cf. Politique rationnelle, published in 1 831, concerning a single Chamber.

• Op. tit., p. 284.

• • 409 • •

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

That Lamartine was keenly aware of the danger en-
tailed by submitting the election of the President di-
rectly to the people is certain. "There are names which
fascinate the crowd as a mirage attracts herds of cattle,
as a bit of crimson cloth draws animals deprived of rea-
son." l Yet he was convinced that the people must be
made to share the responsibilities of the choice, as only
in such case could stable political and social institutions
ensue. "Alea jacta est! Que Dieu et le peuple pro-
noncent!" was his concluding exhortation. It was to
"La Republique de Washington" that he aspired: "A
dream, if you will; but a beautiful dream for France and
humanity." 2 Did Lamartine advocate the intervention
of universal suffrage because he knew that if the appoint-
ment were vested in the Assembly his own chances
must be null? That he believed his popularity with the
Nation to be intact is certain. If we turn again to his
correspondence, that mirror of his soul, we read in a letter
to Lacretelle, dated September n, 1848: "I am solitary.
Souls come back to me one by one, like birds to the tree
which has been struck by lightning. I don't call them, I
don't desire them, God preserve me! One does not trav-
erse twice, without falling into the abyss, three months
such as those from February to May II. May God desig-
nate some one else." 3 And to Circourt a few days later:
"From all parts of France they are already coming back
to me, and, if I wished it, within a week I would be far
more popular than on February 25. There is remorse in
the sentiment which brings the people back to me, and
that remorse is passionate: but I do not desire the dan-
gerous favour." Yet he adds that, although the Assem-
bly underrates him as a statesman, their love of him is re-
turning. "The Departments are in this respect more

1 Cf. La France parlementaire, vol. v, p. 469.

1 Ibid., p. 470. ' Cones pondance, dccccxxxv.

• • 410 • •

THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

advanced than Paris. If the President were to be ap-
pointed by the country, and only two months hence, I
would be nominated, you may be certain. But there
exists a false idea that the Chamber should appoint. I
will combat this weakness." '

A note of unaccustomed pessimism is detected on
September 21, in a frank and open letter to Charles
Alexandre. "The Republic is passing through the most
perilous complaints of infancy. Has it been born pre-
maturely? It behooves us to strengthen it, and to pass
it on to our children. But the people of Paris, so admir-
able under my guidance during four months, has gone
mad and become tumultuous since there lurks a legitimate
sovereign within the National Representation." 2 And he
adds that Providence alone can save them from their folly.

"It behooves us to strengthen it" (the Republic), he
had told Alexandre, and the modus operandi he adopted
is indicated in his speech of October 6. Did he believe
that he alone was capable of strengthening it? Lamar-
tine's illusions as to his popularity died hard. On Octo-
ber 14, he wrote Lacretelle: "I do not desire the supreme
distinction. I have a horror of it. But I would accept
it, as I accepted the Hotel de Ville and its Tarpeian
Rock." 3 To other correspondents, especially to Dargaud,
he lets it be seen that he is convinced the country is with
him, but repeats the "horror" with which the possible
assumption of the Presidency fills him. " I have no other
word to express my negative ambition. ... I remain im-
passive; I will neither withdraw with my name a trump
card from France's hand, nor bribe destiny by making a
single movement. If, by any impossibility, this burden
fall upon my shoulders, I would accept it, as one accepts
Calvary and the Cross." To which he adds that he does

1 Correspondance, dccccxxxvi.

* Ibid., dccccxxxviii. 3 Ibid., dccccxxxix.

. . 411 . .

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

not believe in Bonaparte's chances, in spite of all the
noise made about his name. " II faudrait un autre Moliere
pour ecrire un autre gigantesque 'Misanthrope,' si la
betise humaine allait j usque-la." l But the writer was
singularly mistaken when he assumed, at the close of this
same letter, that with the democratic, socialist, and labour
votes, he could count on half a million suffrages. When the
presidential election took place a month later (Decem-
ber 10), Lamartine polled but 7910 votes, against 5,434,-
226, cast in favour of the candidate "la betise humaine"
entrusted with its destiny.2 Even Ledru-Rollin, to whom
Lamartine had sacrificed so much, scored 370,119 votes,
taking the third place on the list,3 the second being oc-
cupied by Cavaignac, with a million and a half, the fourth
by the socialist Raspail (36,920), and the fifth and last by
the man who had saved France from anarchy and ruin
but nine months before.

Exactly one month before the elections, Lamartine,
apparently alarmed over the silence which was gathering
about his name, instructed M. de Champvans in four con-
secutive letters to contradict in the press the rumours
that he would refuse the Presidency. "If the voice of
the country called me, I would accept without hesita-
tion, as I accepted the people's appeal in February."
Yet even now he professes to disdain the honour, al-
though repeating, in each epistle, that, if elected, he
would accept.4

1 Correspondence, dccccxxi.

1 Cf. Stern, op. cit., vol. m, p. 319. Some authorities grant Lamartine
higher returns, but none admit more than 17,000 votes. Cf. Sugier,
Lamartine, p. 271. In his Memoires pohtiques (vol. iv, p. 55) Lamartine says
he received 18,000 votes.

3 Writing on October 29, Lord Normanby says: "The 'candidature' of
M. Ledru-Rollin and M. Lamartine can only weaken the chancesof General
Cavaignac. It is at present calculated that the first may have 400,000 votes,
the latter not quite as many." Op. cit., vol. 11, p. 274.

4 Correspondence, DCCCCXLin-vi; cf. also La France parlementaire, vol.
VI, p. 34, letter to the Press dated November 30, 1848.

• • 412 • •

THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

MM. Louis Ulbach and L. de Ronchaud, in their re-
spective introductions to "La France parlementaire " and
"La politique de Lamartine," have outlined and sought
to make clear the motives which guided their hero's polit-
ical action. Both agree that the speech of October 6 was
a grievous mistake ; but laud the generosity of his views,
founded, as they were, on his desire to leave with the
people the recently acquired right to nominate the man
they wished to entrust with their interests.1 While this
is undoubtedly true, the citations from private letters,
given above, lend colour to the surmise that Lamartine
believed himself to be the man best fitted to carry out
the popular conception of the Republic he had so largely
contributed to found in February. In his searching ex-
amination and able defence of Lamartine's action on this
occasion, while considering the speech as "impolitic"
and "imprudent," M. E. Sugier is of two minds as to its
psychological significance. Fearing an arbitrary con-
demnation and equally desirous of avoiding the semblance
of a too facile acquittal, his arraignment is unconvincing.
"Agreed that with the election by the people, Lamartine
considered it possible to secure the majority of votes for
the Presidency; yet it does not follow that he spoke
eloquently in favour of this mode of election only from
personal interest." 2 Perhaps not "only" from personal
interests: but the fact remains that he expected to be
nominated by popular acclamation as a consequence of
the thoroughly democratic attitude he had assumed.
No aspersion can be cast on the honesty of his purpose.
He had every right to aspire to the Presidency. There
could be no question of a usurpation of power, or ambi-
tion towards a dictatorship.

Commenting on the election of Prince Louis Napoleon

1 Cf. Ulbach, op. tit. p. cii, and Ronchaud, op. tit., p. lxxvii.

2 Cf . Lamartine, etude morale, pp. 267-76.

• . 413 • •

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

in his "Memoires politiques," 1 Lamartine states that
he had no illusions concerning his own chances, and that
"par probite de republicain," he cast his vote in favour
of Cavaignac. But these lines were written many years
later. His own contemporaneous testimony goes to prove
that he did not then despair of success. What seemed
a favourable opportunity to retrieve his lost popularity,
or at least of freeing himself from certain allegations
which had contributed to his fall, was offered during the
parliamentary inquiry concerning the conduct of Gen-
eral Cavaignac and the Executive Commission during
the insurrection of June. Writing on November I, Lord
Normanby believed that had Lamartine seized this oc-
casion "with promptitude and skill" it might have re-
vived the chances of his "almost forgotten candida-
ture." 2 Why did he not do so? It would seem that his
political friends, if not his intimates, looked for some
such vindication. To quote Normanby again, much
speculation was afloat as to the revelations Lamartine
might make. "For the first three months after the insur-
rection, he proclaimed to every one who chose to listen
to him that he was in possession of facts which would
annihilate General Cavaignac, but latterly it is supposed
there has been rather an approximation between them."
And the Ambassador continues: "It seems to me not im-
possible that unless he [Lamartine] is too much bound to
his party by his former declarations, he may take the
line of professing too much attachment to the Republic
to allow him to indulge his personal feelings by giving
way to accusations against any one. The peculiar style of

1 Op. cil., vol. iv, p. 55. Referring to Lamartine's action in suggesting
that the people vote for the Presidency, Madame Juliette Adam writes in
her Journal: "How can M. de Lamartine lend his authority in support of
such an aberration? Unless it be that he deceives himself to the point of
believing that he will be elected President of the Republic, his conduct is
inconceivable." Cf. Le Roman de mon enfance, p. 323.

* Normanby, op. cit., vol. 11, p. 307.

• • 414 • •

THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

Lamartine's oratory would give much effect to any such
professions of magnanimity; and whilst they would be
of immediate service to General Cavaignac, their ap-
parent generosity might have the effect of diverting from
the General to the speaker the suffrages of many sincere
Republicans."

Lamartine was totally incapable of any such Machia-
velian intervention. It was precisely his "attachment to
the Republic" which kept him silent during this crisis.
That he had valid reason for dissatisfaction with the
General's inertia during the early stages of the insurrec-
tion is certain. But in his "Memoires politiques" he
specifically states: "I make no accusations concerning
what has been considered a treachery: I never believed it.
General Cavaignac was, in my opinion, incapable of it." 1

Much damaging evidence was brought forward during
the inquiry concerning Cavaignac's passivity during the
insurrection: yet Lamartine kept silent. Normanby is
responsible for the statement that when M. Garnier-
Pages descended from the tribune, after a vigorous speech
vindicating the erstwhile Executive Commission, he called
to Lamartine, across several other members: "Now
if you do not speak, you are ruined as a public man."
Normanby's personal impressions at the moment were
unfavourable to Lamartine. "He had neither the moral
courage to maintain the cause of his friends against an
adverse auditory, if he thought their accusations just;
nor the magnanimity to make a recantation of his previ-
ous censure, if he thought General Cavaignac's defence
complete." Yet, in a footnote, he softens this harsh

1 Op. cit., vol. iv, p. 7; cf. also Louis Blanc, Histoire de la revolution de
1848, vol. 11, p. 140. Alexis de Tocqueville, never a lenient critic of Lamar-
tine, making amends for certain harshness, confessed: "To-day I believe
that fear of giving rise to a mortal conflict actuated his conduct as much
as did ambition. I ought to have judged him in this manner at the time."
Souvenirs, pp. 162-72.

• • 415 • •

LIFE OF IAMARTINE

criticism by adding that, although he cannot account for
this unexpected silence on the part of Lamartine, "whose
impulses are generous and whose courage is undoubted,"
"It was one of those moments which every one accus-
tomed to parliamentary life has experienced, when a
variety of unknown motives combine to produce an un-
fortunate suppression of speech." *

The "unknown motives" were, without a shadow of
doubt, the preservation of the Republic, which dissen-
sions within the administrative fold must, perforce, im-
peril. But the " unfortunate suppression of speech,"
although perhaps of some temporary benefit to the
cause, lost Lamartine, as Garnier-Pages had prognosti-
cated, the last vestiges of popularity which had clung to
him. It was a lost opportunity of rehabilitating himself
in the public eye which could never be retrieved.

A fatalist by temperament, there was a touch of the
philosophy of the Orient in the calmness with which he
accepted the destruction of his political ambitions.2 A
disappointed man he was, indeed, but his chagrin neither
soured his temper nor warped his sympathies. "One
must pay for one's qualities," wrote Madame de Lamar-
tine to Charles Alexandre; "optimism, ideals, genius are
great gifts entailing great sufferings. Reality is hidden
beneath the haze of ideal perspectives, and when the
true situation is revealed, it is as the lightning which
barely precedes the thunderclap." If now and then he
gave vent to passionate outbursts against the ingrati-

1 Normanby, op. cil., vol. n, p. 371. Whatever Gamier-Pages may have
said in a moment of extreme excitement, it in no way impaired the warm
friendship existing between the two men. "If the Republic could be per-
sonified in men such as Gamier- Pages," said Lamartine to Henri de Lacre-
telle, "it would be still more odious not to adore it." Cf. Lamartine et ses
amis, p. 173.

2 Writing to Monckton Milnes in 1844, Alexis de Tocqueville said, "The
only thing is that you appear to me, like Lamartine, to have returned from
the East too much the Mussulman." Wemyss Reid, Life of Lord Houghton,
vol. 1, p. 328.

. . 416 • •

THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

tude of the people, such paroxysms were evanescent and
quickly followed by fervent revivals of his inextinguish-
able love of Humanity and his earnest endeavours to
benefit those of whose ingratitude he complained. With
his wife Lamartine realized that he must pay for his
qualities, and he never flinched before the enormity of
his debt. Nor was this moral indebtedness the only
source of anxiety. Hardly had he fallen from political
grace before visions of financial disaster stared him in
the face. But of this anon : the political debt he had con-
tracted with his country must first be liquidated.

It was, perhaps, as much to rehabilitate himself in the
eyes of his fellow-citizens at Macon and the neighbour-
hood, as in search of rest, that he returned home on
October 17, 1848. The reception accorded him was, on
the surface, most gratifying. Practically the whole of
Macon, the Mayor at their head, turned out to welcome
their distinguished fellow-citizen. An immense concourse
of all classes, to which adhered vintners from the coun-
tryside, accompanied him to Monceaux, a couple of hours
beyond the town. From the balcony of the chateau,
Lamartine, deeply moved by this spontaneous demon-
stration of affection, harangued the motley crowd in
felicitous terms. Adapting his metaphors to his audience,
he sketched rapidly the significance of the events in which
he had taken part, giving all the credit of the successful
establishment of the Republic to the people. "Je vous
rapporte une revolution innocente," he cried. "It is
perhaps the first time in history that these two words
are associated one with the other." The closing sentences
of his inspiring speech disclose, however, the anxiety
which beset him. Persistent rumours were in circulation
as to his betrayal of the cause of order and his complicity
with the insurgents. Referring boldly to these calumnies,
he maintained that never for a moment had he doubted

. . 417 . .

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

the constancy of those who had been his lifelong friends
and companions, who knew him as no others could know
him ; never had he feared for an instant that his fellow-
townsmen would misjudge him.1 Alas! even that con-
stancy was to fail him. Deputation followed deputation,
it is true; ovations succeeded one another almost daily for
a fortnight or more, each more apparently enthusiastic
than its predecessor. The poison of what he had termed,
in his speech of October 6, "un fanatisme posthume,"
was in the air; had permeated even this peaceful coun-
tryside, so devoted to, and proud of, their "Monsieur
Alphonse," as he was affectionately styled. Henri de
Lacretelle, in his "Lamartine et ses amis," describes in
minute detail a political meeting organized at his Cha-
teau de Cormatin, when cries of "A bas la Republique!
A bas Lamartine!" and of "Vive l'Empereur!" inter-
rupted the speaker, who was Lamartine himself.2 " Alea
jacta est! Let God and the People pronounce!" 3 The
action of the people on December 10 had been the re-
sponse. "II y avait sur les rangs pour la presidence un
fetiche et un dieu," wrote Dargaud to Charles Alexan-
dre; "le peuple a choisi le fetiche." 4 "A god" Lamar-
tine was to his friends, perhaps; yet the glamour of a
name sufficed, as their divinity had foreseen, to attract
the unthinking masses, as "a red rag fascinates the bull."
On his return to Paris, at the end of November, 1848,
Lamartine again took up his residence in the isolated
villa in the Bois de Boulogne. Had he then given up all

1 Cf. La France parlementaire, vol. vi, p. 5; also Alexandre, op. cit., p. 154.

1 The date of this occurrence is given as October 17, a manifest error,
as Lamartine only reached Macon on that day. Cf. op. cit., p. 144.

1 Speech of October 6, La France parlementaire, vol. v, p. 469.

4 Souvenirs sur Lamartine, p. 160. In his Portraits politiques et rhiolu-
tionnaires, Cuvillier-Fleury writes that History will answer Lamartine's
contention that to "make a revolution" one must be either "a madman,
a criminal, or a god," that he (Lamartine) being none of these, but only the
greatest poet of his time, created nought but chaos. Cf. op. cit., p. 144.

• • 418 • •

THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

hope as to the possibility of his own election to the Presi-
dency? A letter to M. de Champvans, dated from Macon
on November 18, would seem to imply that he still clung
to his illusions. On the morrow he was to address a meet-
ing at Macon, held in honour of the adoption of the Con-
stitution, he tells his correspondent. He characterizes his
utterances as "axioms to be engraved on marble," at the
same time urging his friend to have them reproduced in
as many newspapers and reviews as possible. "Not to
help my candidature, but for posterity, as the honest
and platonic commentary on the Republic; its code, if
it endures; in memoriam, if it perish." 1 Yet he sys-
tematically refused to undertake an electoral campaign,
or any semblance of one, assuring the organizers of a
banquet at Macon that the sentiments of the man who
had defended the Republic at the risk of his life at the
H6tel de Ville were too well known to the country at
large to require any special manifesto or political pro-
gramme from his lips or pen.2 Nevertheless, as late as
November 30, he addressed a circular letter to the press,
in which, while repeating his objections to a manifesto,
he specifically stated: "I therefore declare to my friends
that I accept the candidacy with the sole object of not
diminishing by a man the forces of the Republic, and in
order not to restrict the choice of the country by the
withdrawal of a name." 3

M. Quentin-Bauchart is of the opinion that to the
end the memory of his triumphal election to the Assem-
bly in April kept alive his illusions concerning his chances

1 Correspondance, dccccxlvi. M. L. de Ronchaud, in his masterly in-
troduction to La politique de Lamartine, calls the " Discours au peuple,"
delivered at Macon on November 10, 1848, the utterances "less of a states-
man than of a pontiff, who mingles with politics, morals and religion, as was
the custom in ancient times." Having lost his faith in man, he prays God
to bless the Constitution. Op. cit., p. lxxviii.

2 La France parlementaire, vol. vi, p. 18; also Alexandre, op. cit., p. 159.
' * La France parlementaire, vol. vi, p. 34.

• • 419 • •

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

for the Presidency. "His defeat was prodigious and un-
expected, and must have affected him profoundly,"
adds this historian.1

Is it as balm to his wounded pride that Lamartine, in
his "Memoires politiques," 2 dwells at length upon the
following curious incident? On his election to the Presi-
dency, Louis Napoleon vainly cast about for men likely
to offer efficacious support to his Government by virtue
of their political neutrality during the recent quarrels.
Being unsuccessful in this direction and losing patience
(says Lamartine), the President decided to throw him-
self into the arms of those men who had founded the
Republic and remained steadfast to the principles of
order, welcome to the majority throughout the land.
M. Duclerc, to whom Louis Napoleon opened himself,
urged him to make a direct appeal to Lamartine, with
the belief that, flattered by this action, the late head of
the Provisional Government, recognizing the pressing
need of the crisis, would accept the "principal" port-
folio at his hands. Without warning Lamartine, the
Prince- President, accompanied by M. Duclerc, rode out
to the Bois de Boulogne after dark, and sent word by
his companion to Lamartine requesting an immediate
secret interview. Hastily leaving the dinner table, La-
martine joined the Prince in a neighbouring avenue of
pines.

In as few words as possible Prince Napoleon, after some
flattering remarks on Lamartine's conduct of affairs,
proposed that he should associate his name and talents
with the new regime. "I cordially thanked the Prince,"
writes Lamartine: "I assured him that I would not hesi-
tate to devote myself a second time, with him, to the

1 Lamartine (La politique interieure) , p. 391.

2 Op. cit., vol. iv, p. 56. Charles Alexandre, in his Madame de Lamartine,
p. 168, makes mention of another attempt on the part of the President to
secure Lamartine's aid in forming a Republican Ministry.

420

THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

salvation of my country, could I believe my intervention
useful. . . . But I am, rightly or wrongly, the most com-
promised and most depopularized of all Frenchmen,"
he added, enumerating the reasons for the universal dis-
credit into which he had fallen. "I fought against your
own Bonapartist party," he expostulated. "All the Bona-
partists and military party must abhor me!" Nor is his
unpopularity confined to those who had supported the
party now in power, he objects; all political parties in
France now shun him. "These are my reasons for re-
fusing the honour you would do me: a desperate honour
the acceptance of which would only signify vanity on
my part, and constitute a real peril for you. ... Je
me perdrais sans vous servir," he insisted, referring
again to his unpopularity. "As far as popularity is con-
cerned," smilingly asserted the Prince, "don't take that
into consideration, j'en ai pour deux." But Lamartine
remained firm, although he gave his word of honour that
should the Prince fail to obtain the cooperation of the
men whose names he suggested, he would again throw
himself into the breach. "We will save each other, or
perish together," he averred. " Meanwhile, whom do you
suggest that I consult?" urged the Prince. Lamartine
named Odilon Barrot and De Tocqueville, adding: "If
they refuse, I repeat I will be with you." Whereupon the
interlocutors parted with a cordial handshake.

Early next morning word came to Lamartine that the
Prince had been successful in his quest, and that he was
released from his promise. Fantastic as this tale may
seem, it is not wholly improbable that the Prince took
some steps to conciliate a man he most sincerely admired
and respected, and one whose influence had, moreover,
been so great as not to preclude the possibility of a re-
turn of popular favour. On his side Lamartine, prej-
udiced as he was against the name the Prince bore,

• • 421 • •

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

admits that he considered him, without exception, the
most earnest and strongest statesman he had met during
his long career.1 A strong bond of natural sympathy
undoubtedly existed between the two men. Both were
visionaries, both professed passionate devotion to hu-
manitarian ideals. Until the coup d'etat (December 2,
1 851) Lamartine continued friendly relations with the
President, lending aid to his administration, and urging
those who consulted him to work together for the good
of the Republic.2

Although the 10th of December may be taken as the
date of the final eclipse of Lamartine's political star, he
occasionally took part in the debates during the opening
months of 1849. But his intervention was no longer
either sensational or decisive. The stage was now oc-
cupied by the Prince-President, and men such as Thiers,
Mole, De Broglie, chiefs of the Right, and Ledru-Rol-
lin and his friends, who had taken possession of the
benches on the Left. Even speeches of such incontestable
merit as those on the dissolution of the Assembly and the
convocation of the Legislative Chamber,3 met with but
small success. The establishment of the Roman Republic

1 Memoires politiques, vol. iv, p. 61. In the Conseiller du peuple, p. 183,
Lamartine states: "Je ne connais pas personnellement le President . . .";
adding, on the same page, " . . . Je crois que la Republique a eu la main
heureuse, et qu'elle a rencontre un homme la ou elle cherchait un nom! La
Providence a mis sa main dans le scrutin." If this assertion that he does not
know the President personally is to be taken literally, what becomes of the
circumstantial story of the interview in the Bois de Boulogne? In a letter
to Daniel Stern, Louis Blanc, commenting on the inaccuracies contained in
Lamartine's Histoire de la revolution de 1848, written immediately after the
events narrated (1849), calls the book "un roman inconcevable." Yet he
does not for a moment doubt Lamartine's good faith, and scorns the will to
deceive, attributing the phenomenon to the author's "prodigious faculty of
self-deception." For other specimens of these mirages of the imagination
cf. Sugier, Lamartine, pp. 301-09, whose leniency will not be shared by all
readers.

2 Cf. Memoires politiques, vol. iv, p. 61 ; also Correspondence, dccccli, and
Conseiller du peuple, passim.

* January 9 and February 6, 1849.

• • 422 • •

THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

and the flight of Pope Pius IX, after the assassination of
Count Rossi, together with the proposed armed interven-
tion of France in the States of the Church, lent a certain
importance to his "Sur les affaires d'ltalie," when he
mounted the rostrum on March 8, 1849. But the spell
was broken. The "Bonaparte de la parole" he had
aspired to be, now made place for the Bonaparte in flesh
and blood. Henri Heine had maliciously dubbed Lamar-
tine Ministre des Affaires Etrangeres, "Stranger aux af-
faires." But the speech of March 8 was to vindicate trium-
phantly the foresight of the author of the "Manifeste
a l'Europe." Moderate, almost tentative, in his appre-
ciations, Lamartine nevertheless prognosticates the inev-
itable results of armed intervention at Rome. Assuming
fearlessly and without equivocation the responsibility
for the spirit and letter of his "Manifesto to Europe,"
he warns his audience that between his policy of non-
intervention and the course they meditate, "il y a
l'epaisseur des Alpes." * The international character
of the Papal Government does not escape him. All
Christendom is directly concerned with the matter. A
Republic at Rome which banishes the Pope must, and
will, cause international agitation, perhaps be produc-
tive of war in its most terrible form, that of religious
fanaticism. One by one the trained diplomatist and the
practical statesman takes up the issues, studying and
commenting the arduous problem from all sides. The
drift of his argument is manifestly against an interna-
tional enforcement of the Temporal Power of the Pontiff.
He recognizes the right of the inhabitants of the Roman
States, as that of any other population, to select their
own form of government : yet, in view of the exceptional
circumstances of their situation in the eyes of the civi-
lized world, he counsels an earnest attempt at reconcilia-

1 La France parlementaire, vol. vi, p. 72.
• • 423 • •

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

tion. The practical solution of the difficulty adopted by
the Kingdom of United Italy since 1870 would most cer-
tainly have met with his cordial approval, if we read cor-
rectly between the lines of this memorable speech.1

As the elections for the Legislative Chamber, which
was to replace the National Assembly, approached, a
fierce campaign of calumny surged about the former hero
of the Hotel de Ville. All manner of infamous accusa-
tions were revived. The epicurean orgies in which he and
his colleagues were supposed to have indulged at public
expense were described in detail. More to defend the
reputation of the aged Dupont de l'Eure than on his own
account, Lamartine deigned to take notice of these
persistent rumours. In "La Presse" of May 4, 1849, he
ironically gives the menu of a "banquet" in which he
took part. Standing round the Council table, after
seventy-two hours of continuous speechifying and inces-
sant struggle with the invading mob, several of the ex-
hausted members of the Provisional Government broke
a crust of stale bread and moistened their parched lips
with poor wine, served, not in glasses, but in the remains
of a battered cup discovered amongst the debris which
littered the room. This was the sole occasion, asserts
Lamartine, on which refreshments were served at the
Hotel de Ville.2

Ridiculous as such accusations were, they were to bear
bitter fruit. Perhaps Lamartine, despite his buoyant
optimism, realized that discretion might prove the better
part of valour, and that a dignified self-effacement might
more efficaciously serve the cause he had at heart. The
letter he addressed to the President of the Democratic
Union of the Seine would seem to support this conten-

1 Cf. Conseiller du peuple, pp. 85, 119, 160, and 225; also op. cit. (" Le
passe, le present, et l'avenir de la republique "), pp. 87-100.
* Cf. La France parlementaire, vol. vi, p. 100.

• • 424 • •

THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

tion. " Je ne me presente pas," he informs this magnate
of the electoral district, explaining his reasons for his
abstention as follows: "I believe that misunderstood
political men, who bear the weight of a recent responsi-
bility in one of the crises of their country, should not
provoke, but accept, the just or unjust verdict of their
fellow-citizens. If I am called again, I will respond to
the summons. Should I be overlooked or rejected, I shall
congratulate myself on laying down the burden of my
official duties. I leave everything to the spontaneous
wish of the electors. Perhaps new men may be more
useful to the Republic at this time than men who, if not
discredited, are at least compromised by their past.
Patience is also a patriotic virtue: your justice makes
it easy for me." 1

Philosophical as are the views expressed in this letter,
the humiliation Lamartine was called upon to face, as
a result of the elections to the Legislative Assembly on
May 1 8, was keenly felt. He, who a few months earlier
had been triumphantly returned by ten Departments,
received not a single nomination in 1849. Even Macon
abandoned him. The birthplace of the poet-statesman,
which had so recently and so enthusiastically welcomed
his home-coming in October, was six months later com-
pletely in the grip of a demagogical faction, pitiless in its
ostracism of the policies his moderation had advocated.
The Departement de Loiret (Orleans), in a bye-election,
on July 13, in a measure softened the acute mortifica-
tion this neglect on the part of his native town had
caused, by spontaneously tendering him their representa-
tion in the Legislative Chamber. Shortly after Macon
remorsefully sought to atone for the gratuitous insult
inflicted by nominating him to a vacant seat. But he
remained faithful to the generous electors of the Loiret,

1 La France parlementaire, vol. vi, p. 99.
. . 425 • ■

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

although physical sufferings prevented his fulfilling his
duties to his constituents before February of the suc-
ceeding year (1850).1 Yet, although he remained offi-
cially connected with his country's representation until
the coup d'etat which made Napoleon Emperor of the
French, his appearances in Parliament became more and
more rare. Henceforth his influence was to be exerted
through the medium of journalism and that special form
of popular political literature which he made his own.

1 C(. La France parlementaire, vol. VI, pp. 114, 126, 128; also Corre-
spondance, dccccl.

CHAPTER LII
AUTHOR AND EDITOR

The last twenty years of Lamartine's life are often
termed his Calvary. With his fall from political prom-
inence the brilliancy of his former existence gradually
crumbled around him. His debts amounted in 1849 to
over five million francs, and financial ruin stared him in
the face. True, he still possessed vast landed estates in
Burgundy, but under his peculiar form of management
these became steadily a source of further embarrass-
ment. As his pecuniary difficulties increased, the home-
steads he loved passed one by one under the ruthless
hammer of the auctioneer; and when finally Death found
him, it was to be in a chalet at Passy, which the com-
miseration of the Parisian Municipal Council had placed
at his disposal, together with an income for life of twenty-
five thousand francs, grudgingly doled from the public
funds.

Yet, distressful as were these years of incessant, super-
human literary toil, during which he laboured as a galley
slave to liquidate his indebtedness, there were compen-
sations, nay, even moments of glory, reminiscent of the
triumphs of yore. But these, alas ! were pale and evanes-
cent, invariably leaving their victim ever more harassed,
more hopelessly overwhelmed by the intricacies of the
ruin he so nobly sought to combat. The enormous vol-
ume of his literary output between 1849 and 1869 (the
year of his death) demonstrates the gigantic effort he
made in his perpetual struggle with adversity. Neces-
sarily unequal in quality the work of this period is, never-
theless, at times comparable with the best of his earlier

. • 427 • •

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

verse and prose: a circumstance which may perhaps find
its explanation in the character of the man. Sad as was
his old age, Lamartine never became embittered, never
morose. No rancours, no recriminations, disturbed the
serene acceptance of his destiny.1 Lord Chesterfield
boasts: "Since I had the use of my reason, no human
being has ever heard me laugh." Without possessing the
pompous austerity of the British arbiter of deportment,
Lamartine had never, even in his careless youth, been
addicted to boisterous hilarity. The romantic despond-
ency of the generation which worshipped Chateaubriand
had left its mark on him. Yet the joy of living was never
overpowered, even when disaster closed thickly around
his disappointed ambitions. An evening spent with a
couple of friends at the Palais Royal or the Varietes was
a source of real pleasure and relaxation. "Lamartine
riait franchement," notes Lacretelle in his volume of
souvenirs.2 The salacious wit of these joyous farces did
not shock him; "but a pun," adds Lacretelle, "immedi-
ately made him serious," contortions of the language he
reverenced being excessively distasteful to his sense of
fitness. Such dissipations were, however, exceptional.
As a rule, Lamartine preferred to receive his friends at
home. "I went last night," wrote Charles Eliot Norton
to Samuel Guild, on May 23, 1850, "I went last night
with Count Circourt to see Lamartine, who receives
visitors every evening. . . . His forehead and nose are
fine, but his head is narrow, and his mouth is very weak.
He is tall and has a good presence. His wife, a woman
of no beauty, and whom it is said he treats with much
neglect, was sitting next him on the sofa. . . . Nothing
could be duller, nothing more stupid, than the manner
in which the evening passed. The conversation was car-
ried on for the most part in whispers. Lamartine was

1 Doumic, Lamartine, p. 101. ' Lamartine et ses amis, p. 171.

• • 428 • •

AUTHOR AND EDITOR

surrounded by a circle of admirers to whom he talked
in a low tone of his own works. No man was ever vainer
than Lamartine. His tone last night with regard to his
works was that of continual praise of what he had done.
. . . His house seems like a temple dedicated to his hon-
our. I counted nine portraits of him in the room where
we were. ... I was told that in the three rooms there
were twenty- two likenesses of him." The editor of these
memoirs adds: "Mr. Longfellow told Charles that talk-
ing one day with Sainte-Beuve of Victor Hugo and La-
martine, he (Sainte-Beuve) quietly remarked, after say-
ing this, that, and the other of the two authors: 'Mais
charlatan pour charlatan, je prefere Lamartine.'" !

While most of his compatriots will take exception to
this somewhat brutally frank appreciation by a foreigner,
there were many who thought as Norton did, although
they dared not give open expression to their sentiments.
As a matter of fact, in his own salon Lamartine reigned
supreme, casting into the shade not only his wife, but
all those who gravitated round the Presence. Yet a more
gracious "Sovereign" it would have been difficult to
conceive.2 He invariably had a kind and courteous word
for each of his guests, while for literary men of the
younger generation his cordial flattery of their work was

1 Letters of Charles Eliot Norton, vol. I, p. 66. Another American, Ralph
Waldo Emerson, who heard Lamartine speak two years previously, writes:
"Lamartine made his speech on the question of Poland. He was quite the
best and indeed the only good speaker I heard in the House. He has a fine
head and a free and superior style of delivery, manly and cultivated."
Journal, vol. vn, p. 469. Describing an evening at Lamartine's, M. Edouard
Grenier, in his Souvenirs litter aires, p. 20, says of the wife: "Elle semblait
s'effacer devant le maitre de la maison, comme si elle ne portait pas aussi
ce grand nom. ..." But the same author testifies concerning the absolute
devotion and unquestioning admiration she bestowed upon her husband.
Cf. also Count d'Alton Shee, Mes Memoires, vol. 11, p. 118.

2 Cf. the souvenirs of both his secretaries, Lacretelle and Alexandre,
passim, and the records left by P. Montarlot, Un dejeuner chez Lamartine,
and the anonymous author of Lamartine chez lui, not to mention Guizot,
and Dargaud, his closest friend and inseparable companion.

• • 429 • •

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

a source of encouragement, perhaps rather too indis-
criminately bestowed to possess the value of absolute sin-
cerity. As with his charities, so with his appreciations
of budding talent, Lamartine was, indeed, inclined to
extravagance. The jealousies and envies of the literary
world were totally ignored by him. Perhaps he consid-
ered himself on so superior a plane that he could afford
this luxury of universal praise. If it were so, no trace
of arrogance, even of condescension, humiliated the recip-
ient of his commendation. Was it for this reason Sainte-
Beuve dubbed him "charlatan"? More lenient expo-
nents attribute this weakness (for such it amounted to)
to the goodness of his heart ; to his dread of giving pain ;
or, when their adulation of their hero does not forbid, to
a temperamental absence of the critical sense. All three
hypotheses are fundamentally acceptable — possibly
correct.

Like Sir Walter Scott, Lamartine determined to re-
trieve his fallen fortunes by means of his pen, and with-
out loss of time he set himself resolutely to this arduous
task. Undoubtedly his largesses during the months of
his tenure of office in 1848 had greatly contributed to his
financial distress. Edouard Grenier is authority for the
assertion of Madame de Lamartine that during those
months they had spent over one hundred thousand francs
in charities.1 But the root of the evil dated from a much
earlier period. Already in 1835, Lamartine on several
occasions informs Virieu of the serious embarrassments
he experienced. "I have lost all my available capital
owing to the bankruptcies and unfortunate enterprises in
America"; and again: "I owe a great deal, and cannot
sell." 2 His domestic expenses were never extravagant
but both he and his wife were incapable of refusing pecu-
niary aid to applicants for loans or alms, great or small.

1 Souvenirs litUraires, p. 27. * Correspondance, dcx and dcxi.

• • 430 • •

AUTHOR AND EDITOR

Nevertheless, as M. Doumic opines, and as is proved by
M. Caplain's publication of his grandfather's letters and
papers, the principal source of his ruin must be found
in Lamartine's passion for the possession of landed prop-
erty.1 Family inheritances had brought to him large
estates, nearly always encumbered, it is true; but rather
than allow them to pass into other hands, he admin-
istered them himself, invariably at a loss, paying exor-
bitant pensions to his co-inheritors, greatly in excess of
the normal yield of the property.

In the early spring of 1849 two Jews, MM. Millaud
and Mires, came to him with the proposal that he under-
take, with capital furnished by them, the editorship of
a periodical in which he should have entire liberty of
expression. The offer was a tempting one, from both a
financial and a political point of view. Standing on the
brink of pecuniary ruin, with but small hope of a return
of popular favour, Lamartine lent a willing ear to the
plans these financiers unfolded. At a fixed salary of two
thousand francs a month, a deposit which guaranteed its
continuance for three years, and a contract which pro-
vided for the purchase of such original works as he might
compose, he now launched forth on the troublous waters
of journalism.2 The "Conseiller du Peuple," as Lamar-
tine baptized the venture, appeared in April, and its suc-
cess was almost instantaneous. On July 27, 1849, he was
able to inform M. de Champvans that he had over thirty
thousand subscribers, and that before the year was out
the enterprise would yield him eighty thousand francs.3
M. de Ronchaud has aptly termed the "Conseiller du

1 Cf. Doumic, Lamartine, p. 103, and Jules Caplain, £douard Dubois et
Lamartine, passim.

2 Cf. Alexandre, op. cit., p. 163; and Memoires politiques, vol. iv, p. 63.

3 Correspondance, dccccl and dccccli, in which last the figures are some-
what reduced. In his Cours de litterature, vol. x, p. 227, Lamartine mentions
fifty thousand subscribers. ......

. . 431 . .

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

Peuple" "un cours familier de morale et de politique
republicaine." And the critic adds that there is some-
thing excessively pathetic in witnessing the efforts of
this former dictator, abandoned by the people, who
nevertheless undertakes to explain to them the beauties
of this very suffrage which had proved his undoing. One
feels that he has little hope of himself seeing the fruits of
his labour : he sows for posterity. During those strenuous
days when Lamartine toiled so incessantly to enlighten
the masses, he clearly demonstrated that he was not
working from personal ambition, but that all his policy
had in view the sole and lofty aim of progress and hu-
manity.1

There is an essay in one of the numbers of the "Con-
seiller du Peuple" (the Ninth Counsel), entitled "Athe-
ism among the People," which is deserving of frequent
re-reading in our own days.2 " I have often asked myself,
'Why am I a Republican?'" writes Lamartine. "Why
am I the partisan of equitable Democracy, organized and
established as a good and strong government? Why have
I a real love of the People — a love always serious, and
sometimes even tender? What has the People done for
me?" Lamartine answers these self-imposed questions
by stating that the love of the people is the direct con-
sequence of his belief in God, and goes on to define the
correlation between his duties towards the one and the
other. "Private Duties" and "Collective Duties," as
he terms them, go hand in hand, and Atheism is the
foe of both. "Atheism and Republicanism are two words
which exclude each other. Absolutism may thrive with-
out a God, for it needs only slaves. Republicanism can-
not exist without a God, for it must have citizens." The

1 Cf. Introduction to La Politique de Lamartine, p. lxxxii.

2 Translated in 1850 by Edward E. Hale and Francis Le Baron, and
published in Boston that same year.

• • 432 • •

AUTHOR AND EDITOR

thesis hinges on the contention that without a religious
basis, the whole fabric of political liberty must fall to
pieces, undermined as it will inevitably be by the selfish
and unscrupulous machinations of anarchical demagogues
and tyrants, as was the case in 1793. "Thus end atheis-
tic revolutions!" he warns. "If you wish that this revo-
lution [that of 1848] should not have the same end, be-
ware of abject materialism, degrading sensualism, gross
socialism, of besotted communism. ..." The essay con-
tains no new ideals, perhaps ; is in fact a recapitulation of
the theories Lamartine had preached continuously since
his advent to political life. Nevertheless, its importance
is great, synthetic as it is of his political creed and com-
plementary to his "Politique rationnelle," of 1831.

Yet despite his professed (and certainly sincere) love
of the people, Lamartine was human. Deep down in his
soul there slumbered an essentially human resentment
against this same people, whose blind fanaticism had
preferred the name of Napoleon to the Nation's saviour
when the Revolution of February threatened the peace,
not only of France, but of Europe. Dargaud claims that
Lamartine' s determination never wavered, once he had
renounced his political ambitions. When attempts were
made to entice him to reenter the lists, he told his friend
that he knew too well the worth of the popularity offered
him even to listen to the blandishments of those who
sought his aid. "I despise popularity," he sneered.
"And you may be certain that I will never follow them
as the lightning follows the rod, down into the gutter." 1
Another proof of the profound disgust his fallacious
popularity now aroused in him can be found in his
vehement ejaculation in the presence of Alexandre, after
reciting his magnificent verses, addressed to Count
d'Orsay on receiving the bust the latter had made of

1 Cf. Des Cognets, op. cit., p. 432, who cites from Dargaud's Journal.
. . 433 . .

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

him. All readers of Lamartine will remember the poem,
which begins : —

"Quand le bronze, ecumant dans son moule d'argile,
Leguera par ta main mon image fragile
A l'oeil indifferent des hommes qui naitront,
Et que, passant leurs doigts dans ces tempes ridees
Comme un lit devaste du torrent des idees,
Pleins de doute, ils diront entre eux: De qui ce front?"

The passionate lines are symptomatic of the bitterness
gnawing at his soul; an outcry against the injustice of
his contemporaries. He urges Phidias (d'Orsay) to break
the image and destroy the fragments, lest posterity
subject him to further humiliations. "From Olympus
to the gutter; from glory to oblivion," has he fallen.

' "Au pilori du temps n'expose pas mon ombre!
Je suis las des soleils, laisse mon urne a l'ombre:
Le bonheur de la mort, c'est d'etre enseveli."

"Je ne veux de vos bruits qu'un souffle dans la brise
Un nom inacheve dans un coeur qui se brise!
J'ai vecu pour la foule, et je veux dormir seul." l

These immortal verses were composed at Monceau,
on October 4, 1850, within the space of an hour. The
family had sat down to breakfast, but Lamartine failed
to appear. Finally, the clatter of his wooden shoes was
heard on the stone flags of the corridor, and entering with
bowed head, the master silently took his place at table.
Still vibrating with the intense emotion the sublime in-
spiration had occasioned, he left the dishes offered him
untasted. At last he rose, and standing by the hearth,
solemnly recited his magnificent protest. Alexandre avers
that all present were moved to tears. It was a new man
who was suddenly revealed to them: "a Michel-Angelo,"
whose words seemed fashioned in bronze or marble. It
was the supreme renunciation of worldly ambitions, in-

1 Recueillemenls poHiques.
. . 434 . .

AUTHOR AND EDITOR

termingled with expressions of disgust at the ingratitude
of his generation, the climax ringing like an anathema
in the haughty pride of the closing verse : —

" J'ai vecu pour la foule, et je veux dormir seul! "

Springing to their feet the guests crowded round the
poet, giving utterance to their admiration. But Lamar-
tine waved them aside, muttering contemptuously:
11 C'est un sublime va te faire f . . . . lance au peuple!" 1
The provocation had, indeed, been great. During the
autumn pedlars had hawked about the countryside in-
sulting pamphlets and ribald popular songs, besmirching
the honour and integrity of the great tribune; penetrat-
ing even to the gates of his dwelling. He was com-
pared to Mandrin, the famous highwayman of the
eighteenth century, and accused of the most monstrous
crimes.2 The peasants did not know what to think of
their "Monsieur Alphonse," as political agents painted
his actions in the darkest colours, offering proof that he
had betrayed the people's cause for lucre. Nothing could
have been more painful to Lamartine than the loss of
the time-honoured esteem and affection of the humble
dwellers on his estates who had known him as boy and
man and had so proudly followed his brilliant career.
Pere Dutemps, of the "Cours de litterature," is very
probably a composite character, symbolic of the hun-
dreds who lived upon his bounty. If so, Lamartine
"created" him out of the anguish of his own soul, as he
did "Genevieve," "Claude des Huttes," and others, ex-
pressing through these his faith, his religion, at once
practical and mystical, and the noble aspirations he had
preached in vain to living men.3

1 Alexandre, Souvenirs sur Lamartine, p. 237. The coarse epithet is best
translated as "go and be damned"; but the obscenity of the French expres-
sion has no exact English equivalent.

2 Cf. Cours de litterature, vol. ill, p. 219.
' Cf. Des Cognets, op. cit., p. 427.

• • 435 • •

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

Charles Alexandre has left us a vivid picture of these
closing days of 1849 and the winter and early spring of
1850; days passed in comparative solitude and neglect
at Saint-Point or Monceau. The monotony of this exile
was broken in January by the arrival of the great actor,
Frederic Lemaitre, who came with the publisher, Michel
Levy, to settle final details concerning the mounting, in
Paris, of Lamartine's drama "Toussaint Louverture,"
produced at the Porte Saint- Martin Theatre, on April 6,
1850. The less said about this play, the better. Even the
enthusiastic and loyal Alexandre acknowledges it to have
been a "victoire politique plus que dramatique"; adding
that its principal success was that it caused a popular
reaction in favour of the "great victim of 1848." l Lamar-
tine himself entertained but a poor opinion of the literary
merits of his work. " C'est une dramaturgic pour les yeux
du peuple. Elle avait ete 6crite pour cette fin," he wrote
M. Aubel shortly after its production.2 And a couple of
days later he informed his friend, M. Rolland, that the
play had endowed him with a halo, and, in conjunction
with the part he had taken in Parliament in the discus-
sion on the railway from Paris to Avignon,3 had caused
an immense reflux of popular favour. The people had had
enough of democratic flatterers ; they sought a statesman
strong enough to condemn their follies. "II leve les yeux
sur moi." 4

Alas, once more he grossly deceived himself. The
popularity he still craved was gone forever: but it was
only in the late autumn of this same year (1850) that he
openly admitted the abandonment of his cherished dream
in the despondent verses addressed to Count d'Orsay.

1 Op. cit., p. 202; cf. also Lacretelle, op. cit., p. 214, who substantiates
this assertion. Cf. also Souvenirs de Frederic Lemaitre, p. 296, who says:
"Le succes resta au-dessous de ce poeme grandiose. . . ."

2 Correspondance, dcccclxi.

8 Cf. La France parlementaire. * Correspondance, dccccxh. ,

• • 436 • •

AUTHOR AND EDITOR

But the splendid qualities of his race asserted them-
selves even in this hour of painful darkness and despair.
Downed in one direction, the fighter he was turned his
face to the world, fully armed for the long and inglorious
struggle to free himself from debt. "My political life is
over," he had written Emile de Girardin at the end of
1849. "The country has no need of me, even entertains
repulsion for me. I do not wish to do violence to this
feeling. I contest nothing, and I dream of Asia." * There
had been ups and downs since then, semblances of re-
turning popularity, but even his inveterate optimism
could not fail to note the general indifference which was
clouding round his name. "Without me Europe would
be in ashes, France in ruins, and reasonable liberty lost
for half a century," he wrote the Marquis Capponi, on
June 20, 1850.2 Nor did he exaggerate unduly the re-
straining influence he had exerted. But times were now
changed; France had made her choice, and must abide
by the issue. At any rate, he was right in his belief that
it would be folly to do violence to the feeling of hostility
his political moderation had given rise to. Hence the
longing for the Orient.

In a confidential postscript to a letter to M. Champ-
vans, dated from Paris on July 27, 1849, Lamartine
states that after liquidating his estates, he is fully deter-
mined to expatriate himself in Asia Minor. "J'irai y
vegeter et y mourir." 3 France had been ungrateful, and
left her fallen hero to extricate himself as best he could
from the mire of debt. From an unexpected quarter,
however, a helping hand was stretched out to him. As a
token of his admiration for the poet and his gratitude to

1 Correspondence, dcccclvi.

2 Ibid., dcccclxvi. A month before he had told M. Rolland that he
would bravely "take the helm" should he be called upon to do so. CL
ibid., dcccclxiv.

* Ibid., dccccl.

• • 437 • •

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

the statesman who had invariably befriended Turkey, the
Sultan Abdul Med j id had ceded to Lamartine, for a
period of twenty-five years, the vast estate of Burghas-
ova, near Smyrna. It needed but a touch of his vivid
imagination to transform this agricultural concession
into a veritable Peru. Already he saw himself the pos-
sessor of untold wealth; a petty sovereign receiving the
dutiful homage of the district, garbed in Oriental splen-
dour.1 Yet, before undertaking a voyage of inspection
to his newly acquired kingdom, certain financial transac-
tions were necessary. Failing funds, Lamartine immedi-
ately sought, first, to procure a sum, over one hundred
thousand francs, to defray the expenses of the journey;
and, secondly, to form a financial syndicate to exploit the
natural resources of his vast domain. That he was able
to borrow the first-mentioned sum seems certain from the
contents of several letters of the period ; 2 but the half-
million or more he estimated as indispensable for working
expenses were not forthcoming, although he hoped to
raise this amount in London on his return.

Nevertheless, a start was made. On June 21, 1850,
M. and Madame de Lamartine, accompanied by their
friends, the Baron de Chamborant and M. de Cham-
peaux, set out for Constantinople on the steamship
Oronte. At Marseilles, where they took ship, the popular
reception accorded Lamartine assumed the aspect of a
public ovation. The streets and quays were thronged
with admirers who lavished affectionate greetings, belying
the accounts published by hostile Parisian newspapers as
to the universal spread of his unpopularity in France.3

1 Alexandre, op. cit., p. 194. The Baron de Chamborant de Perissat,
who accompanied Lamartine on his second voyage to the East, spells the
name of the property near Smyrna, Burgaz-Owa. Cf. his Lamartine in~
connu, passim.

* Correspondance, dcccclxii-XVI.

8 Cf. Chamborant, op. cit., p. 28; and also Lamartine's Correspondance,

DCCCCLXVI.

• • 438 • •

AUTHOR AND EDITOR

A brief sojourn was made at Constantinople, in order
that Lamartine might personally thank the Sultan for his
generosity. After a cordial audience, the party lost no
time in setting out for Smyrna.1 Here a caravan was
formed, and within twenty-four hours the travellers
reached the smiling plain of Burghas-ova. Two letters
written from this spot, on July 16 and 17, respectively,
show the enthusiasm the prospect excited in the new
owner's breast. To Dargaud and Dubois he confides
his delight. The circumference of his principality is be-
tween twenty-eight and thirty leagues, including the
chain of fertile hills which surround it. On all sides gush
streams of water, facilitating irrigation. "There is a
fortune in it under forty or fifty forms," he assured Dar-
gaud, while to Dubois he asserts that the herds of cattle
alone will yield from fifty to one hundred per cent on the
outlay.2

The return journey to Marseilles was saddened by the
death, at sea, of M. de Champeaux, who would seem to
have contracted a fever at Piraeus. Deeply affected
though he was by this event, Lamartine determined to
push actively the financial development of his conces-
sion, and with this aim in view he started for London.
"With a capital of half a million francs, one is certain of
an annual return, within three years, of between four and
six hundred thousand. . . ." 3 Alas! The English bankers
failed to share his enthusiasm, while financiers in France
proved equally sceptical. Failing in his repeated at-
tempts to raise the necessary capital, Lamartine was
eventually constrained to abandon the enterprise, grate-
fully accepting, in lieu of his concession, a life pension

x Cf . Nouveau Voyage en Orient, p. 63 et seq. ; also Chamborant, op. cit.t

P-35-

2 Correspondence, dcccclxviii-ix.

8 Ibid., dcccclxxii. For details of M. de Champeaux's death cf. Alex-
andre, Madame de Lamartine, p. 162.

. . 439 . .

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

from the Sultan of a little over twenty-five thousand
francs. Thus evaporated another of the dreams of fabu-
lous wealth which had persistently haunted him since
the days of his youth; as when he proposed to Virieu
that they found an agricultural colony on a desert island
off the coast of Tuscany.1

1 Correspondance, clxx, January, 1819; cf. also Lacretelle (op. cit.,
p. 180), who gives curious details of Lamartine's theories on finance. "I
shall always arrange so as to have two hundred thousand francs of debts.
For Governments as for private individuals debt is a stimulus necessary for
production," etc., etc.

CHAPTER LIII

YEARS OF ADVERSITY

Until the coup d'etat of December 2, 1851, demon-
strated the futility of his struggle, Lamartine had ac-
tively continued his republican propaganda in the "Con-
seiller du Peuple." When stepping down from the heights
to which a now vanished popular confidence had raised
him, he had, indeed, assured his hearers that the eve-
ning of his life would be illumined only by "the lamp
of the sanctuary and of the hearth"; adding: "J'ai et6
le bruit et le mouvement pendant quelques heures, je
serai le silence et l'hymne a mon tour. Un peu de ce
siecle porte mon nom, c'est assez; c'est l'heure de se
taire, de disparaitre et de se preparer au grand pas de
l'eternite." 1 Henceforth his existence was to be com-
pletely dominated by his literary activity and his well-
nigh superhuman efforts to retrieve, or alleviate, finan-
cial ruin. "December second was fatal to Lamartine,"
writes Alexandre ; 2 and Dargaud confirms the statement :
"M. de Lamartine, still unable to walk, dragged himself
to my room, which adjoined his own, when on the morn-
ing of the third he received the fateful tidings. . . . He
was extremely pale, but calm. I realized the depth -of
his emotion by the lividness of his countenance and the
tremor in his voice. He deplored not having been able
to be present at his post at such an issue. ' Bless Provi-
dence rather,' said I, 'that this illness prevented your
attempting a manifestly impotent action. We are no
longer in 1848. The people have deserted their own cause

1 Cf. Mimoires politiques, vol. iv, p. 462.
8 Souvenirs sur Lamartine, p. 313.

• • 441 • •

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

and are one with their oppressors.' He admitted all this,
yet persisted in his regret that he had been unable to do
his duty, even had it only been on a barricade." ' La-
cretelle, who was with Lamartine on the day the news of
the coup d'etat reached him, gives a vivid picture of the
explosion of wrath to which the infuriated poet gave vent.
He inveighed against Louis Napoleon as "one of those
wild beasts which from time to time abandon their lair
disguised as man, and are called Tiberius, Nero, Cara-
calla." "Our race is cursed," he continued, as he ex-
citedly paced the room, knocking over furniture in his
wild anger. "He will bring upon us a second invasion,"
he prophetically announced. "He will be the Emperor
of the demagogues!" Moreover, Lamartine believed, or
feigned to believe, that his own assassination by order
of the Emperor would be one of the sequels of this bloody
betrayal of the Republic.2

Nor was the cup of bitterness drained for him. The
Republican party, which, with Lamartine, had foreseen
the inevitable consequence of Louis Napoleon's election
to the Presidency, suspected their former leader of vol-
untary desertion.3 Even such an old friend as the poet
B6ranger wrote Dargaud, confessing that he had be-
lieved the origin of Lamartine's attack of rheumatism
to have been "political." His speech of October 6, 1848,
insisting upon the right of the people to choose their
President, was now interpreted against him. He was
held responsible in some quarters for the triumph of the
very man he sought to ostracize. Noting this current of
public opinion, or a fraction of it, Lamartine had writ-
ten to Emile de Girardin, three months before the coup
d'etat: ". . . Je ne voudrais ni vivre ni mourir avec le

1 Cited from Journal by Des Cognets, op. cit., p. 429.
* Lacretelle, op. cit., p. 235.

8 "Accusez-moi, l'avenir me vengera," he wrote to Madame Duport
Correspondence, dccccxiv.

. . 442 • •

YEARS OF ADVERSITY

soupcon d'avoir change la Republique en bonapartisme
dans son berceau." ' He himself realized that an excess
of liberty in 1848 was accountable for the present reac-
tion, and that the punishment of the Demagogues who
had misled the people was to be a period of despotism.2
"I am neutral now, and have abdicated all ambition,"
he told Circourt, on his return from the East ; 3 and he
kept his word, refusing to listen to the blandishments
of the Imperial regime, which sought to corrupt him with
the offer of a seat in the Senate — even with the Presi-
dency of that body. His neutrality was sincere. Once
the "titanic" outburst of his anger had subsided, he
accepted passively the rule of the Master France had
given herself, wasting no words in idle recrimination.
But he was a broken man: the illusions of his political
faith gone forever; the burden of his financial distress
crushing more heavily day by day. ' ' Je suis devenu athee
en politique," he impulsively announced to M. Dubois, as
one by one the men he had counted upon in 1848 allowed
themselves to become fascinated by the new regime.4

In his monograph M. Rene Doumic is of the opinion
that never did the noble figure of Lamartine appear more
majestic than during these years of adversity.5 Yes, and
no. There are incidents which can only be characterized
as deplorable, as, for example, the often undignified and
repeated solicitations for the public bounty, in the form
either of lotteries or of subscriptions for his collected
works. The psychology of this peculiar trait of his na-
ture is portrayed in M. Jean des Cognets' criterion:
"When misfortune finally obliged him to solicit in his
turn the charity of others, he was only half sorry. To
implore the pity of people is, after all, only another form

1 Correspondance, DCCCCLXXXIX.

2 Ibid., dccccxciii. ' Ibid., dcccclxxviii.
* Cf. J. Caplain, Edouard Dubois et Lamartine, p. 29.
6 Lamartine, p. 101.

443

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

of asking for a gage of love. After having during thirty
years drawn hearts to him by means of his genius, in his
old age he attracts them through his distress. What
does it matter, so long as they are moved by his appeal?
Let them humiliate him, provided they love him!" x
Many will see in this apology conclusive proof of Lamar-
tine's insatiable vanity: a vanity which called for his
perpetual presence on the stage, even when the limelight
disclosed the rags which had replaced the splendour of his
prime. To pose as the victim of his countrymen's in-
gratitude was certainly one of Lamartine's foibles: a
phase of his character one would fain ignore. On the
other hand, none can refuse their sincere admiration of
the cheerfulness and moral courage displayed in the face
of an ever-increasing, never-ending daily toil. "Autre-
fois je vivais pour travailler," sighed Lamartine; "main-
tenant je travaille pour vivre." The day after an espe-
cially tragic scene with a creditor, ended by one of those
usual expedients which in the long run only added to his
embarrassments, but which afforded temporary respite,
he wrote Dargaud: "Absolute distress! Add to this
neuralgia tortures in the stomach and head fit to kill one
of my Smyrna buffaloes, and more than sixteen printed
pages knocked off every morning. Et sempre bene!
Ready to laugh when you want to. I prefer that to
whimpering."2 The same year (1850) to Dubois (who had
presumably scolded over some inconsequence): "In the
name of Heaven, don't demoralize me. When a man is
swimming for his life, one must support him, not press
upon his shoulders. I fully realize my difficulties. If I
dwelt upon them, they would become impossibilities." 3
The incorrigible prodigal was fully aware of the peril
of his situation ; but he persistently refused to recognize

1 La vie intSrieure de Lamartine, p. 439.

1 Cited by Des Cognets, op. cit.,p. 441. * Correspondance, dcccclxxiii.

444

YEARS OF ADVERSITY

its hopelessness. Private charities on a scale totally dis-
proportionate with his income, often savouring of osten-
tation, indeed; largess bestowed without rhyme or rea-
son on strangers and undeserving mendicants having no
claim on his bounty, but who happened to be cognizant
of the usual Sunday distribution of ready cash; the
thousand and one petty demands made upon his private
purse; all these contributed, and had for years past con-
tributed, to his difficulties. But, as has been said, there
were other and greater drains, caused by his generous
interpretation of family obligations and the administra-
tion of his rural estates. No compliment had flattered
him more than when Madame de Girardin (if memory
serves) had styled him "le plus grand agriculteur de
France." Perhaps he was. But his methods were not
calculated to increase his fortune. In the district where
he lived, custom, among the larger landed proprietors
of the Maconnais, afforded certain facilities to the vint-
ners, advancing ready money on their crops, or pur-
chasing them outright before the vintage. Partly from
goodness of heart, partly also for speculative reasons,
Lamartine followed this tradition, not prudently as did
his neighbours, but with his usual impetuosity and san-
guine confidence in his financial acumen. In nine cases
out of ten he gave a price far beyond the market value,
and as often eventually resold his wines at a loss. In vain
did M. Dubois point out to him that the peasants of his
countryside were becoming capitalists at his expense,
and that these so-called speculations were inevitably
ruinous, adding with infallible regularity a deficit to his
account. " You need between eighty and one hundred
thousand francs for your annual expenses," argued the
prudent M. Dubois. "Keep Saint-Point to live and die
in; but sell Monceau and Milly, which are heavy en-
cumbrances in your budget. What you make by your

. . 445 . .

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

pen, dispose of according to your fantasy, by which
I mean your liberality and exhaustless charity" — to
which excellent advice Lamartine gruffly replied: "You
have wounded and humiliated me: leave me." 1 But,
although he declined to accept the counsel Dubois of-
fered, Lamartine almost immediately repented his hasty
words, and to the end gave him every token of his esteem
and affection. To the formation of a syndicate which
should take over the administration of his affairs, paying
him a handsome annuity, he was equally obdurate, af-
firming his ability to liberate himself from the crushing
burden alone and unaided.2

With the coup d'etat the "Conseiller du Peuple" ceased
publication, and his daily newspaper, "Le Pays," founded
as a parliamentary organ for the diffusion of republican
theories, soon shared the same fate. Nothing daunted,
Lamartine turned with redoubled energy to purely lit-
erary composition, piling up volume upon volume of
historical treatises (monumental works such as his
"Histoire de la Restauration " and "Histoire de Tur-
quie," each in six octavo tomes) or semi-imaginative
sketches and personal reminiscences of his youth, such
as "Les Nouvelles Confidences," "Le Nouveau Voyage
en Orient," and a dozen others, to which must be added
the " Civilisateur," 3 a periodical of a non-political char-

1 Cf. Caplain, op. tit., p. 1 12, letter from M. Dubois to Madame Valen-
tine de Cessiat. In a letter of M. de Chamborant, dated November 9, 1853,
Lamartine writes: "Not only have I had no crop with my seventy vintners,
but I must support a hundred families during a year. Result: a difference
of one hundred and fifty thousand francs: but I shall hold out. Glory to
God, and expressions of gratitude to my publishers!" Lamartine inconnu,
p. 125.

1 Lacretelle, op. tit., p. 180. In 1866 Lamartine wrote to M. de Cham-
borant that he had "effectivement paye plus de six millions en quatorze
ans d'efforts surhumains," and without receiving one sou from the Gov-
ernment. Cf. Lamartine inconnu, p. 272.

' "Mon seul salut ici-bas," as he wrote Pelletan (cf. Correspondance,
M.); adding in a letter to De la Grange: "Mon seul moyen de salut et de
liberation." Correspondance, Mil.

• • 446 • •

YEARS OF ADVERSITY

acter, designed to replace the defunct "Conseiller" as
a breadwinner. The venture was, however, short-lived,
and was followed, in 1854, by an instructive and essen-
tially moral little volume (totally forgotten to-day), en-
titled "Lecture pour tous."

Years of incessant literary slavery, these; of desperate
effort and perpetual disappointment. Well might he
write to the faithful Dubois: "Quant a la politique, je
m'en fiche, et je suis a peu pres comme le pays. Je pense
a moi et a ceux qui vivent de moi." l Up at four or five
o'clock in the morning the year round, Lamartine bent
over his table grinding out the pages which were to save
him and his family from ruin. "This morning I began
work for 'Le Siecle,'" he wrote M. Rolland in 1852.
"Never did a man more ill take up the spade. I can take
no food, have no sleep, am tortured by a serious malady
of the stomach and by universal rheumatism. But the
greatest evil is my purse: could the emptiness be seen it
would make one shudder. Nevertheless, I pay my vint-
ner, but there is nothing left for others." 2 "All very
sad," he writes Dargaud a month later; "but not hope-
less so long as there is a God in Heaven, friends on earth,
a horse in the stable, a dog on the hearth-stone, and a
white page to be blackened on my table." 3 And he in-
forms his friend that within twenty-nine days he has
completed and forwarded to his publisher a volume of
four hundred and twenty pages ("Histoire de la Res-
tauration"), and that he begins another on the morrow.

Charles Alexandre and Madame de Lamartine are
admirable and indefatigable secretaries, often composing
whole pages themselves, which pass later as the Master's
work,4 but the brunt falls upon the shoulders of the soli-
tary toiler crouching over the fire in his turret-chamber

1 Caplain, op. tit., p. 135. 2 Correspondance, dccccxcv.

8 Correspondance, dccccxvii. * Cf. Alexandre, op. cit., p. 314.

. . 447 . .

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

at Saint-Point, or in the damp little study on the ground
floor of the rue de la Ville-l'EvSque, where Lamartine had
taken refuge on leaving the magnificent apartment in the
rue de l'Universite after his financial reverses (1853-54).

His indomitable courage and exhaustless optimism are
exemplified in an anecdote related by Dr. Poumies de la
Siboutie, who visited him a little later. Lamartine wished
to hire the fourth floor of the house in order to instal
under the same roof the offices of the "Cours de litera-
ture," which had just begun publication and already
boasted twenty thousand subscribers at twenty francs
each. "My affairs are bad," asserted Lamartine; "but
I am not ruined. I owe two millions, but I shall make one
million this year. And if God grants me life and health,
I have the certainty of freedom from debt within three
years. Then I shall still have my pension of twenty
thousand francs from Turkey, an income of thirty thou-
sand a year belonging to my wife, and my estates, which
are worth seven hundred thousand at least. They urge
me to sell my estates, believing me to be a poor manager.
But I am convinced nobody could make them yield more
than I do. Besides, I have about twenty families who
work for me and for themselves. The sale of my prop-
erty would reduce them to beggary." *

But, despite superhuman efforts, the fatal moment
when he must perforce part with his estates was fast
approaching. In 1857 he had paid off over one million
francs of his indebtedness, it is true. But the operation
had only been consummated through a series of expedi-
ents which in reality left him even more inextricably en-
tangled. " J'arrive acheve, fini, ruine, an6anti," he wrote
confidentially to Chamborant from Monceau, on Febru-
ary 11, 1857; and the same letter contains mention of the
imminent catastrophe. Tentatively he urges his corre-

1 Souvenirs d'un midecin de Paris, p. 357.
. . 448 • •

YEARS OF ADVERSITY

spondent to sound M. de Morny and to ascertain through
him whether the Emperor would grant permission for a
lottery ("seule voie qui soit liberatrice") for the disposal
of his estates.1 His belief in the love of the people of
France never deserted him: that the public he had so
generously served in 1848 would come forward to aid
him in his distress, was to his mind a certainty. "Si
l'autorisation est refusee," he wrote Chamborant a week
later, "il y aura une grande peine dans le pays."2 Diffi-
culties of all sorts arose, however, many of such a humiliat-
ing nature that Lamartine himself preferred to have the
scheme abandoned, determined as he was to accept no
favours which might compromise his political dignity.

A little later (March 19, 1858) some of the leading
citizens of Macon were successful in obtaining adminis-
trative authority for the launching of a national sub-
scription for the relief of their distinguished citizen,
threatened with bankruptcy. Favourably received at
first, the idea soon gave rise to inevitable political com-
plications. The Emperor's letter, published on March
27, lending his support to the subscription with an offer-
ing of ten thousand francs, was seized upon by his ene-
mies as a pretext for their own abstention. Royalists,
Orleanists, and Republicans took umbrage at the Impe-
rial patronage. Perhaps Madame de Lamartine was not far
wrong when she wrote: "Party spirit governs everything:
or at least each one finds therein an excuse to do nothing,
and even to glorify their abstention." 3 There can be no
doubt that the Emperor's action hurt the scheme, but
there were other considerations, not the least of which
was universal indifference, mingled with political dis-
trust. On two occasions the Emperor had, indeed, offered
to pay Lamartine's debts out of his privy purse. Twice

1 Lamartine inconnu, p. 178. 2 Ibid., p. 186.

' Letter cited by Chamborant, op. cit., p. 192.

. • 449 • .

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

these magnanimous offers had been courteously declined.1
To accept two millions of francs from the private gener-
osity of the man he had done his utmost to foil in his po-
litical ambitions was certainly an impossibility. Lamar-
tine, who prized the judgment of posterity even more
than the opinion of his contemporaries, could hardly con-
sent to such a humiliation. It is even difficult to conceive
how he could have tolerated the Emperor's personal sup-
port of the National subscription. But he did: and bitter
reproaches were inevitably levelled against him. There
is a passage in a letter to Chamborant, dated September
9, 1858, which goes far to prove that Lamartine sincerely
believed that the product of the public subscription was
incontestably his due for services rendered. It is hardly
to his credit; yet strict impartiality forbids its suppres-
sion. "The General Council of Sa6ne et Loire," it runs,
"which is indebted to me for the forty millions of revenue
derived from the two railway lines, had the cowardice to
pass me over in silence [in reference to subscription]. The
countryside is indignant: here [at Monceau] I have been
welcomed by the peasants as an unhappy friend whose
misfortune increases their sympathy." 2

1 Cf. Memoires politiques, vol. iv, p. 67; also Chamborant, op. cit., p. 192.

J Lamartine inconnu, p. 193. The letter continues with an optimistic
estimation of his financial status, improved by one million within ten
months. "This gives me hope for 1859." In Paris the announcement of
the subscription produced very different results. M. Jean des Cognets
(op. cit., p. 449) states that newspapers of all shades of opinion were merci-
less. The Figaro informed its readers that Lamartine walked the streets of
Paris clothed in rags in order to soften the hearts of possible subscribers.
"Oh, charitable folk," he was represented as praying: "one more million,
if you please, in order that I may save my ancestral fire-dogs." The Legiti-
mist and Catholic press was most cruel. The subscription earned for
Lamartine a greater crop of insults than of cash. Lord Normanby, on April
3, 1858, addressed from Florence a letter in which, together with a sub-
scription of one thousand francs, he expressed his admiration for the man
who had done so much for the salvation of society and of order. Cf. Alex-
andre, Madame de Lamartine, p. 214. In London the subscription had con-
siderable success in spite of the hostile attitude of a portion of the English
press. Cf. op. cit., p. 215.

• • 45O • •

YEARS OF ADVERSITY

M. de Chamborant corroborates Lamartine's com-
plaint; asserting that the Prefects were responsible for
this almost universal action, in the belief that their course
would be agreeable to the Government, which, although
it had authorized the subscription, preferred a negative
result.1 Whatever the reasons advanced by the Govern-
ment may have been, the national subscription was a
dismal failure. In a note to Dubois (marked "secret")
Lamartine specifically states that the Imperial letter
and contribution of ten thousand francs "nous tue a
moitie ou aux trois quarts." Without the unfortunate
letter he asserts that "two millions would certainly have
been subscribed." 2 And he adds: "On m'offre trois mil-
lions par le gouvernement et le corps legislatif. Je ne
veux pas, mais taisez-vous. L'honneur avant la vie."
This would seem to lend substance to the belief that the
Government, fearing a recrudescence of Lamartine's
popularity, sought to ensnare his political independence,
and by an act of significant generosity bind him morally
to the Imperial regime. The above-quoted letter clearly
demonstrates that, dire as was his distress, Lamartine
would never have lent himself to such a Machiavelian
combination, sacrifice his dignity as he might in appeals
to the charity of the people.

The mournful little volume which M. Maurice Barres
published, under the title of " L'Abdication du Poete"
(1914), is of unquestionable psychological value, despite
the sombreness of its conclusions. Dealing exclusively
with the Lamartine posterior to 1848, the writer dwells
principally on the gradual transformation of his political,
religious, and literary characteristics after the middle
fifties until his death in 1869. Here and there rays of

1 Op. cit., p. 192; also letter from Madame de Lamartine on the same sub-
ject, cited by Chamborant, p. 193.
* Caplain, op. cit., p. 1 14.

451

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

light are discernible in M. Barres' appreciations; but on
the whole, the noble figure is decked in too gloomy garb.
" Lamartine pourquoi renier ton ame!" exclaims M. Bar-
res in the opening sentence of the chapter headed "Le
Desespere." x The poetic vein was not exhausted. Some
of the most sublimely beautiful verses date from this
period of prosaic literary slavery to which the aged poet
was doomed in order to secure his material existence.

Charles Alexandre has drawn a pathetic picture of one
of these instances of the revival of the divine inflatus.
Entering the bare little vaulted study at Saint-Point, as
the dusk was gathering on a late September evening in
1856, the secretary found his revered friend, head in
hands, bowed over his desk. At his feet lay a couple of
greyhounds, the inseparable companions of an adored
master. The little room itself contained but scant furni-
ture or decoration: two or three well-worn armchairs, a
small divan, and the writing-table. Behind the owner's
seat hung a shelf of books and a print of Lord Byron:
opposite, on either side of the chimney-piece, well in
view, were portraits of the poet's mother and his daugh-
ter Julia. After a few cordial words of greeting, Lamar-
tine took up the sheets covered with his rapid, grace-
ful, essentially feminine handwriting, offering to read the
work on which he had been engaged. The little den was
plunged in gloom, and the poet leant against the window
to catch the last fading rays of light. A stone's throw
before him was the humble village church, separated
from the park by the wall in which was built the tombs
of his mother and child. As Alexandre puts it: "La
poesie etait religieuse comme la scene," for the verses
were entitled, "Le Desert ou l'Immortalite de Dieu." 2

1 Op. cit., p. 75.

1 Cf. Recueillements poetiques, xix; also Alexandre, Souvenirs sur Lamar-
tine, p. 345.

452

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LAMARTINES STUDY AT SAINT-POINT

YEARS OF ADVERSITY

A mosaic of all the shifting opinions and episodes of his
life, a medley of public affairs and personal doubts and
anguish of soul, Lamartine moulds the mass of sensations
and sentiments into a compact whole, uplifting and
spiritualizing its essence, and clothing it with metaphysi-
cal significance. He had been a dutiful Christian; had
later denied Revelation, seeking in reason a definition
of God: to-day he bows reverently before the Mystery
which man cannot penetrate. Analyzing the various
emotions depicted in the poem, M. Barres discovers at its
close Lamartine standing alone, far above man and
mundane events: "C'est un ascete tout pret a ne plus
aimer que U Imitation " l

That same autumn of 1856, another sublime inspiration
came to the weary poet. One afternoon at Milly, the
home of his childhood, was born " La Vigne et la Maison,"
which some critics and most lovers of Lamartine rank
amongst the most exquisite of his imperishable harmo-
nies. The same evening, on his return to Monceau, he read
the beautiful lines to the charmed circle which gathered
round him.2 But such "dialogues" between his soul and
his material self were rare nowadays. The cruel labour
necessitated by his daily "copy" forbade flights into
ethereal realms his fancy still yearned for. As Theophile
Gautier has it: "Pegase tracait son sillon, trainant une
charrue que d'un coup d'aile il eut emportee dans les
etoiles."3 The arduous mental application of such compi-
lations as his "Histoire de la Restauration " and the
volumes on Turkish history, not to speak of the prepara-
tion of that "last hope," the "Cours de litterature,"
absorbed his energies. Pegasus was, indeed, harnessed
to the plough: the stars were now far beyond his reach.

1 U Abdication du poete, p. 77. During his last years this little volume,
which had belonged to his mother, says M. Dubois, was ever at his bedside.

2 Cf. Alexandre, op. cit., p. 352; also Recueillements, xvn.
• Portraits contemporains, p. 180.

CHAPTER LIV
THE STRUGGLE FOR EXISTENCE

In the closing pages of his "Memoires politiques"
Lamartine, referring to his final venture, "Cours familier
de litterature," states that, thanks to advertisements in
the newspapers, he was successful in collecting twenty
thousand subscriptions for his publication. Of these he
estimates ten thousand as resident in France, while the
other half were scattered in North and South America
and' various European countries. On paper the assured
circulation of the magazine showed an annual income of
about four hundred thousand francs; but the estimate
proved to be far in excess of the reality. As far as trans-
atlantic countries were concerned, the enterprise was
a dismal failure ; the French subscribers alone saving him
from absolute ruin. A complete edition of his collected
works in forty octavo volumes was now undertaken, and
on this he also built fantastic speculations. "If nothing
interferes with these different enterprises," he writes,
"and which cost me between four and five hundred thou-
sand francs a year, I flatter myself that after ten years
of assiduous labour, I shall have paid off my five mil-
lion two hundred thousand francs of debts, thanks to the
liberality of the friends I have kept in my country and
in Europe." !

It was a broken man of over seventy years of age who
penned these pathetic words; to which he added: " Men-
dier pour soi est une honte ; mendier pour les autres est une
consolation. ... I shall die poor and naked, but I shall

1 Op. cit., vol. iv, p. 454. The final volume of the collected works was
to be issued on December 31, 1863.

. . 454 . .

THE STRUGGLE FOR EXISTENCE

have reduced no one to poverty." It seems incredible
that his optimism should survive the stark realities
which hedged him in : loss of popularity, loss of fortune,
failing health! His courage partook of the heroic, his
faith in his ability to retrieve his fallen fortune was colos-
sal ; yet, na'ive to the extent of puerility, Lamartine has
been held up to ridicule by his foes on account of his
insensate passion for publicity, one form of which, and
a ruinous one, was the advertisement of his books. Noth-
ing gave him greater pleasure than to buy a whole page
in a leading journal and therein advertise his works. He
would sit gloatingly before the page, fascinated by the
contemplation of his name, printed in gigantic type.
"L'annonce est un art invente par Girardin, et accom-
pli par Lamartine," he proudly assured his friends when
they remonstrated at his extravagances.1 To which,
when hard pressed, he added: "I am obliged to clang the
brazen gong of publicity; God Himself has need of bells."
Alexandre would seem to discern in the reliance on the
efficacy of advertisement a decline in his trust of self.
"II y croyait plus qu'en lui-meme," sadly confesses the
loyal secretary.2 The admission is significant, coming
from such a source ; goes far, indeed, towards invalidating
the preceding assertion concerning the magnificent self-
assurance of the struggling victim. Yet the distinction is
more apparent than real. Of moral abdication there was
no trace: the commercialism of Lamartine had more
lofty aims in view than the mere accumulation of lucre.
"Poor and naked" was he prepared to die, so long as no
innocent victims were dragged down in his ruin. In the
last analysis, although the peasant's pride in his land
undoubtedly had its weight, it was the honour of his

1 Alexandre, op. cit., p. 262.

2 Ibid., p. 263. For charming recognition of Charles Alexandre's serv-
ices, see Cours de litterature, vol. x, p. 228.

. . 455 . .

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

name he sought to free from the stain of the bankrupt.
Who shall blame him if he discerned in the advertisement
of the wares he had to dispose of a loophole of escape?
Alas! this costly passion was far from realizing the re-
turns he expected. The agent he sent to the United
States to push his enterprise returned empty-handed.
Even in France subscriptions were far from compensating
the considerable expenditure. In vain did the faithful
Dubois knock at the doors of possible subscribers in Paris
and elsewhere; it was with the greatest difficulty an
occasional purse was opened, and current expenses swal-
lowed up the sums as collected. "II y a vraiement
gagne des millions," wrote Alexandre to Dubois, in 1882,
long years after the poet's death,1 but the insatiable maw
of his creditors made short work of his fabulous earn-
ings. Not one of his numerous estates was he enabled to
transmit to his descendants, excepting Saint-Point, and
that was heavily encumbered at best.

In i860 the situation had become so desperate that
friends solicited the Municipal Council of Paris to pro-
vide a suitable lodging for the aged poet in the capital
he had saved from anarchy. The Emperor took kindly
to the scheme, and it was due to his tactful diplomacy
that the matter was at last presented in such form that the
proud susceptibilities of Lamartine were soothed. After
tedious negotiations, during which the venom of certain
political animosities became painfully apparent,2 a so-
lution was reached, and the City of Paris offered M. and
Madame Lamartine the chalet situated at "La Muette,"
near the gate of the Bois de Boulogne. This concession
was revertible after the death of her uncle and aunt to
Valentine de Cessiat, who had been adopted by the aged
couple and authorized to bear their name.3

1 Cf. Caplain, oj>. cit., p. 126. * Cf. Chamborant, op. cit., p. 198.

1 Cf. Madame Emile Ollivier, Valentine de Lamartine, p. 123.

456

THE STRUGGLE FOR EXISTENCE

That Lamartine should have refused to be indebted
for his peaceful retreat to the charity of Napoleon III
is conceivable. Although he accepted the Empire and
the destruction of his Republic with as good grace as he
was capable of, his abhorrence of the regime, as well as
of the policy it inaugurated, was intense. His disap-
proval of the attitude assumed towards Italy was espe-
cially vehement and outspoken. For such patriots as
Garibaldi, Mazzini, Cavour, and Victor-Emmanuel, he
entertained but slight admiration, styling them "heros
de la demagogie militaire." In an irascible letter to
Chamborant, written on June 18, i860, he repeats al-
most textually the expression used to Dubois: "Je suis
arrive, pour mon compte, a l'atheisme politique le plus
complet, et je vous en souhaite autant." x Too ill to
write himself, it was to Valentine he dictated his letter;
but a post-scriptum in his own hand adds: "Je ne vous
demande pas le secret de mon atheisme politique. —
Lamartine." The outburst is characteristic. He could
not forgive Napoleon III, whose intervention in Italy
was diametrically opposed to the diplomatic action he
had advocated when in power.2 Yet such explosions were
becoming ever more rare. The political discussions in
the "Cours de litterature," although frequent, show an
ever-increasing tendency towards the purely academic,
far removed from the earlier essays in the "Conseiller
du Peuple." As age and tribulations overtake him, it is
to retrospect he turns. Lovers of the literary Lamartine
will find much to solace them in the pages of the " Cours,"
which in reality comprises twenty-eight volumes of scat-
tered souvenirs, more or less fantastically dressed up, it
is true, but pregnant with the individuality of the poet
rather than that of the practical politician. The failure
of the national subscription was due to the political

1 Lamartine inconnu, p. 200. 2 Cf . Cours de litterature, vol. XI, p. 49.
• • 457 • •

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

significance lent it by Louis Bonaparte's well-meant but
ill-advised support. If the sales of the monumental edi-
tion of his collected works fell short of legitimate anti-
cipations, political considerations were again not wholly
foreign to the causes which militated against success.1
The grandeur of the hero who defended public liberties
at the Hotel de Ville was lost sight of, when not delib-
erately vilified, by those who complaisantly thrust their
necks under the yoke of despotism. A generation was
to pass before Lamartine's political action received the
grateful appreciation of his countrymen.

Meanwhile, the struggle for material existence became
daily more painful, complicated as it was by physical
and moral tortures which go far to explain the "political
atheism" temporarily eclipsing his sturdy idealism.
Details in letters of this period (July to December,
i860) are, indeed, harrowing. Confined to his bed for
long weeks with an attack of inflammatory rheumatism,
Lamartine writhes "a hundred hours at a stretch,"
while bailiffs lay siege to his door, and all remunerative
work is at a standstill.2 The faithful wife, herself stricken
with the mortal complaint to which she was so soon to
succumb, replaces him as best she can, indefatigably
penning missives to business agents and friends whose
aid she implores. Ready money to make the journey from
Paris to Macon is lacking, and she knows not where to
turn to procure even this modest sum. At last they are
once more installed at Monceau (December), but only
to be again plunged in mortal anguish. It is Lamartine
himself who now holds the pen, describing to his friend,
Chamborant, the horrors of the situation in which he

1 The Societe proprietaire des CEuvres de Lamartine, to which the poet
sold his copyrights, has registered, since his death, an enormous increase of
sales. Between 1869 and 1895, 585,893 volumes were sold. Cf. Madame
£mile Ollivier, Valentine de Lamartine, p. 154.

3 Chamborant, op. cit., p. 199.

• • 458 • •

THE STRUGGLE FOR EXISTENCE

finds himself: both Madame de Lamartine and Valentine,
after weeks of sickness, are still in precarious condition ;
his friend, Dr. Pascal, whose devotion had saved the
lives of his patients, dead at his post; a chambermaid,
worn out with fatigue of nursing, also dead ; another gone
mad with grief over the death of her master, the doctor.
"Moi, passant, sans sommeil, d'un lit a un cercueil pen-
dant plus d'un mois." And to add to the gruesomeness,
the perpetual vexatious visits of sheriffs, and the stop-
page of the literary labour to which he owed his daily
bread.1 Nor were his troubles ended when finally the
convalescence of his dear ones was assured. Milly, the
cherished home of his childhood, was sold. From the
wreck he saved only a few sticks of well-worn furni-
ture: his mother's bed, and the cradle in which he had
himself been rocked. His cup of bitterness was, indeed,
full to overflowing. "Save your country from anarchy
and foreign wars," he cries; "this is the reward: a hearth
sold and lost forever, such is the equitable return for so
many hearths saved! My soul is sick; yet I must toil
on as usual, to save my poor brave creditors and their
families from ruin." 2

In the first issue of the "Cours de litterature" (1856)
Lamartine had written: "In spite of specious appear-
ances, my life is not such as to inspire envy: I would say
even more; it is finished. I no longer live, I survive. Of
all the multiple men who, so to speak, lived within me,
the man of sentiment, the man of poetry, the orator, the
man of action, none now exist within me except the man
of literature. The man of literature is not happy." 3
And he goes on to describe the galley-slave labour to
which he is condemned. Alexandre opines that these

1 Chamborant, op. cit., p. 208.

* Ibid., p. 212; cf. also Legouve (Soixante ans de souvenirs), who cites
(vol. iv, p. 189) a pathetic letter from Lamartine on the sale of Milly.
8 Cours de litterature, vol. I, p. 69.

. . 459 . .

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

pathetic pages, if they were read, "auraient du mettre
le feu a la France glac£e." * Few will share his sentiment,
however. Most sincere admirers of Lamartine must re-
gret the undignified whining which every now and then
mars the sublimity of the struggle in which he was en-
gaged. "Happy the men who die fighting; struck down
by the revolutions in which they took part!" 2 Here,
at least, is a sentiment all who sorrowfully follow the
decadence of this noble intellect will echo. And yet, as
has been said above, some of the fairest flowers of La-
martine's gentle philosophy can be culled by the patient
searcher in the pages of his declining years. The "Ex-
piation," as it has been styled,3 is full of lessons we could
ill dispense with for a full comprehension of the brilliant
man, so essentially human in his alternating strength
and frailty, whose chequered career these pages have
attempted to depict. M. Sugier, one of the most pene-
trating of his biographers, commenting on this incessant
and uncongenial literary hack-work to which Lamartine
was condemned, expresses the belief that had it not been
for the imperative pecuniary needs which drove his pen,
the world might have been the richer (after 1848) by a
great metaphysical and philosophic treatise,4 the book
long years previously he had meditated writing, "en
cheveux blancs." Doubt is permissible, however, as to
Lamartine's technical qualification for the treatment of
such a theme. Early in his parliamentary career he had
written to Virieu (1836): "La m6taphysique nage dans
la politique, mais plus que jamais elle couve dans mon
ame et elle 6clora un jour." B In those days Dargaud had
believed his friend capable of renovating Catholicism,
even of evolving a system of religious philosophy more

1 Madame de Lamartine, p. 197. ' Cours de littcrature, vol. I, p. 74.

* Sugier, Lamartine, etude morale, p. 328.

* Ibid., p. 341. 6 Correspondance, dcxxv.

. . 460 • •

THE STRUGGLE FOR EXISTENCE

in harmony with the spirit of the times. But Lamar-
tine's limitations soon became apparent even to this en-
thusiastic admirer. A thinker, in the strictly scientific
acceptance of the term, Lamartine never was, either in
the field of metaphysics or in that of sociology. Instinc-
tive rather than logical, he was incapable of harnessing
his intellect to the rigidly inflexible formulae of a system ;
equitable, profound, and liberal as were the ideals which
seethed in his brain.1 Free from debt he would unques-
tionably have continued to charm the world with master-
pieces in verse or prose; but "La Chute d'un Ange" may
be taken as fairly demonstrating the limitations of his
metaphysics, the unscientific and purely personal char-
acter of which is even more clearly discernible in the
"Voyage en Orient" and "Jocelyn." Free from debt,
again, the pessimism which haunts his later composi-
tions, and which was so foreign to his temperament,
would have been spared him. To the conception of a
system of philosophy he could never have aspired. A
Comte, a Nietzsche, or even a William James, forms the
antithesis of a Lamartine. The religious philosophy he
might have elaborated in his old age could only have
been one of pure sentiment, following Biblical lines, in-
terspersed with Arianism, and deeply tinged with the
pantheism from which his soul was never completely
liberated.

It has been frequently asserted that, near the close
of his life, Lamartine turned again to Catholicism. M.
Sugier does not believe this to be the fact,2 and most
unbiassed students will agree with him, in spite of his
increasing predilection for the "Imitation of Christ." 3

x Cf. Whitehouse, "De la Religiosite de Lamartine," Bibliotheque Uni-
verselle, Octobre, 1913.

2 Op. cit., p. 351.

3 Cf . Barres, op. cit., p. go. In his Lamartine et ses amis (p. 268) Lacretelle
dwells upon this "faith of the deist, superior to all dogma."

• • 461 • •

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

A nominal Catholic he had always been, and remained
to the end; but he had detached himself from the tra-
ditional dogma of the Church. It was the "historical
Jesus" he accepted, not the second Member of the
Trinity.1 Charles Alexandre, in his "Madame de La-
martine," cites conclusive evidence of the unorthodoxy
of the husband's creed, which the wife would "give her
blood" to redeem. Yet she acknowledges, with a sigh
of relief, the constant presence of God before his eyes,
his faith in immortality and in celestial justice, and above
all his abounding and never-failing charity. "His place
will not be the last," the pious woman exclaims, deeply
as she regrets his inability to accept blindly the tenets
of the Church she had herself unconditionally embraced
on her marriage.2

"Plus il fait jour, mieux on voit Dieu I " wrote the bard. 3
The essence of his religious philosophy is summed up in
that single line.

1 Cf. Cours de litterature, vol. X, p. 202 (i860), a conversation between
Lamartine, Laprade, and Liszt, at Saint-Point; also Sugier, op. cit., p. 351.

2 Alexandre, op. cit., p. 239. Eugene Pelletan, a personal friend, relates
an episode when, her husband being seriously ill, Madame de Lamartine
sought to gain admittance to his bedside for the Bishop of Troyes. Lamar-
tine sat bolt upright on his couch, exclaiming with severity: "Tell him that
I am too ill to receive any others than my friends"; cited by E. Sugier, op.
cit., p. 253. " II entendait mourir comme il pensait, et depuis longtemps il
pensait en philosophe," adds M. Sugier.

1 Cours de litterature, vol. x, p. 199.

CHAPTER LV
DECLINING YEARS

Despite impending ruin and the fatigue occasioned
by incessant literary toil, despite increasing infirmities
and frequent illness, the hospitality accorded relations,
friends, or strangers at Saint- Point, or in the modest cot-
tage in Paris, was inexhaustible.

Many characteristic details can be gleaned from the
souvenirs of those who visited the aged poet during the
last decade of his life; details which throw side-lights,
sometimes bright, more often sombre, alas! upon the
great man's psychological peculiarities during the last
phase of his career.

Among these friends of the eleventh hour few ap-
proached Lamartine more closely, or with more reveren-
tial sympathy, than the poet Edouard Grenier. Of him
Jules Lemaitre said that, "en r6sume" he was "quelque
chose comme un Lamartine sobre, un Musset decent, un
Vigny optimiste." ! Grenier had first known Lamar-
tine during the strenuous months of the Provisional
Government, when, not yet twenty, he had interrupted
his studies in Germany and Austria to hurry back to
France. Through the medium of Baron d'Eckstein he
had been introduced to the Minister for Foreign Affairs,
who offered him a diplomatic appointment. Pending his
departure, Grenier was a constant visitor at the Hotel
de Ville, and an eye-witness of his chief's daily, nay
hourly, oratorical contests with the mob which perpetu-
ally surged in the square before the building. The magic
of the poet's eloquence, the authority he exercised over
1 Les Contemporains, vol. i, p. 126.
• • 463 • •

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

colleagues and mob alike, filled the young diplomatist
with admiration.

Long years passed before Grenier was again brought
into intimate contact with the hero of 1848. Old age and
afflictions had bowed the commanding figure, but ad-
versity had not conquered the calm assurance which had
contributed to the triumphs of earlier years. In the
gloomy, incommodious apartment of the rue Ville-
l'Eveque, M. Grenier found a hearty welcome. Every
evening, until ten o'clock, a few friends, strangers of
distinction, and the members of his family, gathered
about the poet and paid him homage. Afoot and at work
at all seasons from five in the morning, Lamartine toiled
at his desk until noon. The afternoon was given to his
business affairs, a short walk, and to reading. Questioned
as to whether this early rising had not become second
nature to him, Lamartine replied: "Never. It is as hard
for me to-day as it was the first day." * During these
evening receptions Madame de Lamartine sat apart,
taking little interest in the conversation, but showing
clearly, by her constant watchfulness, her worshipful
devotion to the man whose name she bore. "She had
suffered with him, perhaps through him," writes Grenier.
"If she could not approve all, she never blamed him.
There was something maternal in her sorrowful and
magnanimous indulgence." 2 Flanked on either side by
his inseparable greyhounds, Lamartine reclined on a
divan, or restlessly paced the narrow salon, carefully
avoiding the little chandelier which hung from the low
ceiling, his hands deep in the pockets of his wide trou-
sers. At times he would talk incessantly ; at others, ab-

1 Cf. Grenier, Souvenirs litteraires, p. 20.

1 Ibid., p. 21. Lacretelle, in his Lamartine el ses amis, p. 283, also asserts
that, although Madame de Lamartine was invariably present during her
husband's receptions, she held herself aloof. But her correspondence with
friends was actively carried on to the end.

. . 464 • •

LAMARTINE

From a photograph by Alexandre Martin, Paris

DECLINING YEARS

sorbed in thought, he hardly seemed aware of the pres-
ence of his guests. M. Grenier touches upon the master's
prodigious instinctive faculty of assimilating a subject
in which he was interested and of extracting the essentials,
without preliminary study. The shallowness one might
have expected from this dangerous facility was rarely
apparent, and these intuitive judgments or apprecia-
tions were in nine cases out of ten logically sound. Yet
he possessed no true sense of criticism, for the simple
reason that his imagination interposed itself between his
view of a subject and the realities, colouring everything
with the hues he wished to see. There is a depth of truth in
Chateaubriand's exclamation on reading the "History of
the Girondins," "Le Malheureux! II adore la guillotine!"

The philosopher, Pierre Joseph Proudhon, after enu-
merating Lamartine's unquestionable intellectual gifts,
gauges him as follows: "Unfortunately, these beautiful
qualities are overshadowed, often even neutralized, by
an irremediable blemish. Intellectual labour, that ana-
lytical and synthetic spirit which alone, in giving the
reason of things, elevates and maintains the ideal, is,
in M. de Lamartine's case, totally lacking. He contem-
plates, he does not penetrate: and as with all contem-
plative natures, one may say that with him Reason sur-
passes the feminine attribute just sufficiently to save
him from being a woman." *

If in his elegiac verse this femineity constituted un-
deniable charm, the same cannot be said where philo-
sophical epics are concerned, or when he attempted con-
troversial historical subjects.

To quote again from Grenier's souvenirs, Lamartine
prided himself, sometimes to the extent of being ludi-

1 Cf . De la justice dans la revolution et dans Veglise, i ith study, chapter n.
"II avait des attentions de femme," asserts Alexandre {op. cit., p. 288),
when relating an episode demonstrating the poet's solicitude for the ma-
terial comfort of those around him.

• • 465 • •

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

crous, on the power he possessed, or thought he possessed,
of mastering technical subjects without effort. "Je n'ai
jamais etudie que deux choses, l'economie politique et
les finances!" he once assured his astonished listener,
who could not conceal a smile.1 The unintentional hu-
mour of the remark must appear as positively pathetic
to the student of Lamartine's administration of public
and private finance. George Ticknor, who often saw the
Lamartines in Paris at a much earlier date (1837), makes
a remark in his diary which shows that neither the poet
nor his wife had greatly modified their idiosyncrasies
during the twenty-odd years which intervened between
his visits and those of M. Grenier. Writing of his host
Mr. Ticknor says: "He is, I should imagine, nervous
and sensitive ; and walks up and down in the back part of
his saloon, talking with only one, or at most two persons,
who walk with him. This, I am told, is his habit, and
that it is not agreeable to him to talk when sitting."
Mr. Ticknor was greatly struck by Lamartine's "poeti-
cal faith that the recent improvements in material life,
like steam and railroads, have their poetical side, and
will be used for poetical purposes with success." Of
Madame de Lamartine Ticknor's impressions coincide
with those of Grenier a quarter of a century later. The
American notes that "she was dressed in black, a colour
she has constantly worn since the death of their only
child, a daughter of fourteen, who died on their journey
in the East. She avoids the world and general society, and
receives only gentlemen who visit her husband. She talked
well with me about the Abb6 de Lamennais and his ' Livre
du Peuple,' and showed herself to be, what I believe she
really is, a lady of much intellectual accomplishment." 2

1 Grenier, op. cit., p. 27.

4 Life, Letters, and Journals of George Ticknor, vol. n, p. 117 (Edition of
1909). Ticknor also frequented the salon of Madame de Circourt, as well
as that of Mrs. Lee-Childe in the same quarter of the town. (Cf. Huber-

• • 466 • •

DECLINING YEARS

Lamartine's faith in the poetical side of modern me-
chanical inventions was indeed sincere. "La Chute d'un
Ange" did not appear until the year following Mr. Tick-
nor's visit. Even had he read the poem, Lamartine's
description of an aeroplane could only have seemed to
him a fantastic flight of the imagination. But twentieth-
century readers of the episode cannot fail to be struck
by the "vision" of the modern flying-machine so dis-
concertingly evoked. In the "Eighth Vision" of the
poem the author finds it necessary to transport his hero,
Cedar, rapidly to a great distance. Discarding the super-
natural, or the wings of Icarus, as hackneyed and out
of date, Lamartine sets himself to invent a mechanical
device which shall satisfy the scientific and technical
requirements of the age in which he lives. The result is
the following ingenious disclosure of prehistoric lore : —

"C'est cet art disparu que Babel vit eclore,
Et qu'apres dix mille ans le monde cherche encore!
Pour defier les airs et pour s'y hasarder,
Les hommes n'avaient eu des lors qu'a regarder.
Des ailes d'oiseau le simple phenomene
Avait servi d'exemple a la science humaine."

And plunging boldly into the maze of technical
description concerning his apparatus, the undaunted
inventor continues : —

" Du vaisseau dans les airs il elevait le poids,
Comme sur l'ocean se souleve le bois,
Les hommes, mesurant le moteur a la masse,
S'61evaient, s'abaissaient a leur gre dans l'espace,
Depassant la nu6e ou rasant les hauteurs,
Et, pour frayer le ciel a ses navigateurs,

Saladin, Le Comte de Cir court, p. 118.) Count Nigra, in his unpublished let-
ters of Count Cavour and Madame de Circourt, gives charming glimpses
of this extraordinarily intellectual couple. As has been said, Cavour shared
none of his friend's enthusiasm for Lamartine. (Cf. op. cit., p. 62.) The
aversion was mutual: Lamartine also mistrusted the great Italian states-
man's policy, although according ample justice to his talents.

467

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

Pour garder de l'ecueil la barque qui chavire,
Un pilote imprimait sa pensee au navire.
D'un second appareil l'habile impulsion
Donnait au char volant but et direction."

The motor, it is true, was driven neither by steam nor
by gasoline, the airship being propelled by means of bel-
lows which inflated a species of sail : —

"Sur le bee de la proue un grand soufflet mouvant,
Comme un poumon qui s'enfle en aspirant le vent,
Engouffrait dans ses flancs un courant d'air avide,
Et, gonflant sur la poupe un autre soufflet vide,
Lui fournissait sans cesse, afin de l'exhaler,
L'air dont, par contre-coup, la voile allait s'enfler.
Ainsi, par la vertu d'un mystere supreme,
Un element servait a se vaincre lui-meme !
Et le pilote assis, la main sur le timon,
Voguait au souffle egal de son double poumon." 1

It is doubtful whether a working model of his inven-
tion would have convinced scientific experts; but the
illusion produced is amply adequate for the poetical
object Lamartine had in view, and sufficiently plausible
to impress the non-critical reader as to his technical
knowledge of mechanics.

The charm of the unconventional hospitality offered
a stranger at Saint-Point is expressed with unaffected
simplicity in a little pamphlet entitled "Un Dejeuner
chez Lamartine en 1859." 2 Then a young man of twenty,
M. Montarlot, on a literary pilgrimage to Milly, learned
that the old poet was himself visiting the home of his
childhood and would gladly receive him. In spite of his
approaching seventieth birthday, Lamartine appeared
to his visitor youthful in figure, and preserving the rare
distinction and graceful poise of head which the portraits

1 La Chute d'un Ange, p. 270.

2 Printed for private circulation. M. Montarlot supplemented his pam-
phlet with several personal letters to the author, from which the above
details are drawn.

• • 468 • •

DECLINING YEARS

of his early manhood had made familiar. An invitation
to lunch at Saint-Point followed, eagerly accepted by the
younger man. A casual remark made by Lamartine on a
subsequent visit denotes the esteem in which he was held
by members of the Government of the Empire. It would
seem that a plan for the transformation of the rue de la
Ville-l'Eveque called for the demolition of his abode.
M. de Persigny, the Minister of the Interior, on learning
that the proposed alterations would result in Lamartine's
eviction, refused to sanction the measure. M. Montarlot
notes that in those days Lamartine had practically be-
come a vegetarian, a fact which is vouched for by many
memoirists of the period.

Dr. Prosper Meniere has left a very realistic account
of a visit paid to Monceau a few years earlier (July 16,
1854).1 Accompanied by Jules Janin, the famous literary
critic and author, the Doctor was unceremoniously
received in the poet's bedroom, where he found him
suffering from a severe attack of gout. Of an observant
turn of mind, Dr. Meniere had been struck, in passing
through a dressing-room, by the formidable array of
boots and shoes which met his gaze. Over one hundred
pairs, he asserts, were symmetrically lined up on a long
deal table. Every detail, even the most minute, is, so to
say, photographed in the pages of this "Journal," and
the description of Lamartine reclining on a broad, low
bed, shared with three or four dogs, his face smeared with
snuff, his untidy surroundings and far from scrupulously
clean attire, all go to make up a picture quite out of
harmony with preconceived ideals of the poet's fastidi-
ous elegance. Speaking of his work, Lamartine informed
his guests that he was at present occupied with his
"History of Turkey," for which he had received in ad-
vance one hundred and fifty thousand francs, for six

1 Journal du Docteur Prosper Meniere, p. 71.
• • 469 • •

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

volumes. "I shall write one volume a month," he con-
fidently assured his hearers.1 "Ce sont les mille et une
nuits de l'histoire," he remarked; adding that the East
was the real country, the best adapted to his physical
and moral nature, and that eventually he would return
there to die.

But, although many came to pay their tribute of hom-
age at the shrine of the dethroned deity, there were
others who did not hesitate, while professing friendship,
to wound his susceptibilities. Examples of Lamartine's
sarcasm are so rare that the following verses are of spe-
cial interest. Gustave Nadaud, a writer of popular songs
who enjoyed a certain celebrity during the fifties, had a
dinner engagement of some days' standing with the aged
poet. At the last moment an invitation reached him to
dine with the Princess Mathilde, cousin of the Emperor
Napoleon III. Nadaud unhesitatingly threw over the
fallen idol of 1848, and hied him to the sumptuous board
of the relative of the reigning Caesar. Whereupon the
gentle bard addressed to him these satirical lines, imitat-
ing the chansonnier's style: —

"Un jour, le vaincu de Pharsale
M'offrit un diner d'un ecu.
Le vin est bleu, la nappe est sale,
On ne va pas chez un vaincu.
Mais quand la cousine d'Auguste
Me fait prier en sa maison,
J'accours, j'arrive a l'heure juste . . .
Chansonnier, vous avez raison!" 2

This paraphrase of Nadaud's popular song, "Les
Deux Gendarmes," each verse of which terminates with
the refrain, "Brigadier, vous avez raison," shows a trait
so foreign to Lamartine's character, devoid of guile or
malice, that one accepts its authenticity with consider-

1 Journal du Docteur Prosper MSnibre, p. 80.

1 Cited by Madame Ollivier in her Valentine de Latnartine, p. 1 13.

. . 470 • -

DECLINING YEARS

able scepticism, in spite of the unimpeachable source
from which it is taken.

"En fait de haine, je veux mourir insolvable," said
Lamartine one day to Emile Ollivier, Napoleon Ill's
last Minister, and Lamartine's successor in the French
Academy.1 To which may be added Lacretelle's epi-
gram: "He has been reproached for not knowing how to
hate." 2 Some have regarded this inability to hate, or
even to blame, as a defect in his character; a culpable
weakness. Perhaps it was. Lamartine was prone to
excessive, often fulsome, flattery, especially when the
work of younger men was submitted to his criticism. He
had an instinctive dread of giving pain : another instance
of the femineity of his temperament, but a lovable one,
it must be confessed.3

"J'aime a aimer!" Alexandre reports Lamartine as
saying; and this biographer adds that he might with
equal truth have said: "J'aime a admirer." 4 He himself
accepted criticism with complacency, allowing his wife
and secretaries to amend or alter his verses or prose with-
out undue expostulation. The puritanism of Madame de
Lamartine often discerned heresies, nay even indecencies,
which she undertook to mitigate or suppress : notably was
this the case with certain "visions" in the "Chute d'un
Ange." Even the pure and exquisite verses of "Le Lac"
did not escape her condemnation, and in a revised edi-
tion she transmogrified the final line : —

"Tout dise: ils ont aime !"

into

"Tout dise: ils ont passe!"

1 fimile Ollivier, Lamartine, p. 168. 2 Cf. Lacretelle, op. cit., p. 265.

3 Alexandre, in his Madame de Lamartine (p. 275), contends that the old
poet took real and unfeigned pleasure in listening to the verses of the younger
generation. Cf. also Ticknor {pp. cit., vol. II, p. 117), who characterizes
Lamartine's praise as "more kind than is even discreet or useful."

4 Souvenirs, p. 382.

• • 471 • •

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

Lamartine, writes Madame Ollivier, when these muti-
lations were brought to his notice, patiently submitted.
"C'etait superbe hier au soir," he complained to Dargaud
when sending him one of his articles, "je le gate ce matin
pour obeir a ma femme." 1

If there were moments when Lamartine gently resented
these incursions into a realm so essentially his own, his
easy-going nature, combined with the "fatal facility"
of productiveness, rendered him more often indifferent.
Ernest Legouve cites an instance of this phenomenally
effortless improvisation, which was, so to speak, sub-
conscious, a mere conversational spark often provoking
the flood of latent harmonies buried in his soul. One day
his sister, Madame de Pierreclos, asked him casually to
write a few verses in the album a young girl had sent,
requesting an autograph. Lamartine took up his pen,
and without an instant's hesitation or reflection, wrote
the following beautiful lines : —

"Le livre de la vie est le livre supreme
Qu'on ne peut ni fermer, ni rouvrir a son choix;
Le passage attachant ne s'y lit pas deux fois;
Mais le feuillet fatal se tourne de lui-meme;
On voudrait revenir a la page oil Ton aime,
Et la page ou Ton meurt est deja sous nos doigts."

Nonchalantly he handed the album to his sister, with-
out re-reading what he had transcribed, as if in a trance.
Amazed at the exquisite pathos of the verses as well as by
the prodigious facility with which they had been pro-
duced, Madame de Pierreclos could only gasp: "Mon
Dieu, pardonnez-lui, il ne sait pas ce qu'il fait!" 2 "I
never think," once remarked Lamartine; "my ideas think

1 Valentine de Lamartine, p. 22; cf. also Lacretelle, op. cit., p. 228. "Que
voulez-vous," Lamartine sadly confessed to this author: "mes dettes
m'ont fait faire bien des lachetes." A curious letter from Madame de
Lamartine to Alexandre contains a complaint that her husband consulted
her rarely as to his literary compositions. Cf . Madame de Lamartine, p. 31 1.

1 Soixante ans de souvenirs, vol. iv, p. 232.

• • 472 • •

DECLINING YEARS

for me." An exaggeration, in a sense, for he had been a
voracious, omnivorous reader in his youth, if not a stu-
dent, and the recesses of his memory were stored with
inexhaustible treasure. Nowhere is this more apparent
than in the flashes disclosed in the serried pages of the
"Cours de litterature " ; a monument of scattered recol-
lections and fragmentary philosophic thought, bearing
the imprint of accretive learning. Perhaps he meant to
imply that he did not delve for his thoughts: that they
were the spontaneous gushing of the pure waters of his
genius. If this be the case, most critics will readily agree
with him, for of effort there is no trace in any of his writ-
ings. The sacrilegious tamperings of his wife were after
all unimportant, and posthumous editions have reverted
to the poet's original phraseology.1 The letters published
by her friend and close confidant, Charles Alexandre,
make clear the sincerity and honesty of her purpose when
taking liberties with her husband's, it must be confessed,
carelessly constructed text. It was a labour of love by a
woman more jealous of the author's literary reputation
than he was himself. On her practically fell the burden
of revision for the great edition of Lamartine's collected
works. " I can't tell you," she wrote Alexandre, "all that
I accomplish materially in my day, and how overcome
by fatigue I am when night comes ! The publisher is here.
I have handed over three volumes this morning, to feed
the steam engines." 2

Her activity was, however, approaching its term. The
noble, if somewhat narrow-minded, woman who for over
forty years had sacrificed self wholly and unconditionally
to the fame and happiness of the man she loved, whose
vigilance was as incessant as it was discreet, broke down

1 Cf. Gustave Lanson's erudite volumes on the Meditations poetiques,
Introduction, and passim, as well as Leon Seche's studies.
8 Madame de Lamar tine, p. 314.

. . 473 . .

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

gradually under the prolonged strain caused by the
financial worries which beset her husband after 1850.
Never robust, her health had for some years past given
anxiety to her friends. But, hiding her ailments from her
husband, she toiled indefatigably as his copyist until
early in May, 1863, when, exhausted in mind and body,
she was attacked by the malady which was to prove fatal.
Lamartine and his niece, Valentine de Cessiat,1 were both
seriously ill, and the physical effort of nursing her dear
ones had sapped her failing strength. The circumstances
attending her death, on May 21, 1863, were peculiarly
dramatic. Separated from his wife by the breadth of a
narrow passage only, the husband was yet unable to
leave his bed and assist her during her last moments.2
Unaccompanied by any member of the immediate family,
the body was taken to Macon, and thence conveyed to
Saint-Point, where it rests in the little mortuary chapel
Lamartine had built in the wall separating his park from
the village church.3

Lamartine's devotion to his wife had been whole-
hearted, although passion he had never pretended. Tem-
peramentally dissimilar as the couple was, this union of
the Latin and the Anglo-Saxon characteristics, of which
each was typically representative, had nevertheless
been an unusually cloudless one. In a measure the two
natures completed each other. The exuberance, the
spontaneity, of the man was tempered by the calm and
dignified reserve, one might almost say, British phlegm,
of his wife, to whom the licence of Gallic conversational
and social intercourse savoured of immorality. A year

1 His adopted daughter since 1854.

* Cf. Alexandre, op. cit., p. 376; and Chamborant, op. cit., p. 234.

3 Lady Margaret Domville, in her Lamartine, p. 394, asserts that the
Government offered a public funeral, which was declined. Documentary
evidence of this assertion is, however, lacking, and she probably confounds
the offer with that made at Lamartine's death.

. . 474 . .

DECLINING YEARS

or more older than her husband, Madame de Lamartine,
especially during the later period of her life, had mothered
the man she so faithfully served. Nor was Lamartine
ungrateful. His appreciation of the virtues of the woman
whose private fortune he had compromised with his own,
was genuine. When ruin stared him in the face, he wrote
Chamborant: "Mon humiliation depasse celle de Job,
mais j'ai de bonnes femmes et de bons amis." This was
in 1 86 1, when Valentine had taken her place in the old
poet's household, ministering to uncle and aunt with an
abnegation which was the solace of their declining years.1
The loss of his wife was a blow from which Lamartine
never recovered, in spite of the atmosphere of love and
devotion surrounding him and of the adoring worship
lavished by the tireless Valentine, his constant and in-
separable companion during the six years of life still
remaining to him. "Sans Valentine, qui me desattriste
tout, ma situation serait presque insoutenable," he
assured Chamborant.2 The closeness of the tie which
bound the uncle and the niece is proclaimed in a letter
written six weeks after the poet's death, in which the
lonely orphan cries: "Je ne peux pas m'habituer a vivre
sans lui; chaque minute est un supplice." 3

One by one the associates of his life were passing away.
In December, 1865, Dargaud died. None had been more
intimately connected with Lamartine during the last
thirty-five years ; few had exerted a greater influence over
his political and metaphysical doubts and aspirations.
Lamartine's lifelong ambition had been, it will be remem-
bered, the close union of politics and religion, in a some-
what primitive and Biblical sense, it is true. The sepa-
ration of Church and State which he so persistently
advocated in no wise entailed in his estimation a lowering

1 Chamborant, op. cit., p. 293.

* August 12, 1863. 3 Chamborant, op. cit., p. 297.

475

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

of either the spirit or the form of the Christianity he main-
tained as essential to free government.1 It was the sev-
erance of what he considered the purely material ties of
the Concordat that he desired; believing that the "reli-
gion of conscience" would gain by liberty of conscience,
which is "a progress of human thought toward the idea
of God." 2 In this Dargaud, himself a free-thinker in
practice, but a metaphysician at heart, encouraged him.
Both Alexandre and Jean des Cognets assert that Lamar-
tine expressed regret that no religious ceremony was
performed at his friend's funeral.3 In his "Hymn au
Christ" the poet had written: —

"O, Dieu de mon berceau, sois le Dieu de ma tombe";

and with advancing years this sentiment had become
ever stronger. A liberal in religion as he was a liberal in
politics, Lamartine was sincerely respectful of the forms
of the creed he sought to spiritualize and free from the
materialism which overlaid it. That his friend should have
elected to dispense with the last rites of the religion they
both outwardly professed, while maintaining certain re-
serves as to dogma, could not fail to shock and pain him.
In the third essay of his "Cours de litterature," deal-
ing with the philosophy and literature of primitive India,
Lamartine calls man "the Priest of Creation," whose
functions are "to believe, to adore, and to pray"* "All
other functions are secondary," he adds. Such an asser-
tion leaves little room for doubt as to the religiosity of
the man who penned it.

1 Cf. his Atheism among the People, already cited. 2 Op. cit., p. 47.

* Lamartine et ses amis, p. 383; and La vie interieure de Lamartine, p. 32.
4 Op. cit., vol. 1, p. 162.

CHAPTER LVI
POLITICAL VIEWS

That Lamartine's political sagacity was not infallible
is proved by the attitude he assumed towards the prob-
lems of Italian unity and Napoleon Ill's policy in Mexico.
His practically unconditional moral support of the latter
is, indeed, astonishing when we recall to mind not only
his personal antipathies to the Empire founded on the
coup d'etat, but the generous and communicative en-
thusiasm with which he pleaded the cause of the United
States during the controversy concerning the indemnity
claimed for losses in the Napoleonic wars.1

The first intimation we have of this change of heart
is in a paragraph in a letter to Baron de Chamborant,
dated August 12, 1863. Therein Lamartine unhesitat-
ingly endorses the adventurous Mexican expedition which
was undertaken to place Maximilian upon a transatlantic
throne. He is delighted at the blow aimed at the pride of
the United States, and exults at the prospect of ule mil-
liard de revenus que nous decouvrirons avant peu dans les
mines de la Sonora." 2

Two years later (1865) he gives vent to an explosion
of animosity which is literally dumbfounding. The oppor-
tunity is afforded him in an essay on American literature,
in the seventeenth "Entretien" of his "Cours de littera-
ture." 3 This essay is entitled "Une page unique d'his-
toire naturelle, par Audubon." Therein Lamartine gives
utterance to many extraordinary statements and expres-
sions of opinion, the consensus of which is violently

1 Cf. La France parlementaire, vol. I, p. 126.

2 Lamartine inconnu, p. 245. 3 vol. XX, p. 81.

• • 477 • •

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

hostile to the United States. In spite of the noble cause
the North was at that moment defending (a cause Lamar-
tine had himself espoused at an earlier date), he can dis-
cern only evil motives on the part of Lincoln, and selfish
aims masquerading under the guise of philanthropic
charlatanism. Jealousy over the commercial riches of
the South is at the root of Northern intervention for the
abolition of slavery.1 Nor can he forgive Americans
either the Louisiana Purchase or the Mexican War of
1846. In his anger Lamartine repudiates the very prin-
ciples he defended in 1835 when speaking in Parliament
on the American claims: "Combien ne m'en suis-je pas
repenti depuis cette 6poque!" he exclaims. "We ought
to have fired paper bullets against their phantom fleet;
but at that time they relied in their insolence on the
alliance with England, with which country we desired
to remain at peace." 2 There are many pages of harsh
invective and fantastic accusations of piracy, showing
a bitterness wholly inconceivable unless we accept the
hypothesis of a personal grievance. Such a supposition
is admissible, alas! in view of the dismal failure of his
envoy to the United States for the sale of his collected
works, on which venture he had founded exaggerated
expectations. "Seul peut-§tre des hommes independants
de l'epoque, Lamartine n'a pas maudit l'expedition du
Mexique," writes Chamborant, in commenting on the
letter quoted above.3 Not only did Lamartine refuse to
"curse" the policy referred to, but a couple of years later
(1865) he lauded it unconditionally in the essay under
our consideration. "... La pensee de la position a
prendre par nous au Mexique," he writes, "est une
pensee grandiose, une pensee incomprise (je dirai tout

1 vol. xx, p. 91. * Ibid., p. 87.

* Lamartine inconnu, p. 246. Lamartine himself wrote, in 1865, that
he alone in France realized the "general utility" of the expedition. Cf.
Cours de litterature, vol. xx, p. 105.

• • 478 • •

POLITICAL VIEWS

a l'heure pourquoi), une pensee juste comme la neces-
sity, vaste comme l'Ocean, neuve comme l'a-propos,
une pensee d'homme d 'Etat, feconde comme l'avenir, une
pensee de salut pour l'Amerique et pour le monde. . . .
La pensee d'une position hardie et efficace a prendre au
Mexique contre l'usurpation des Etats Unis d'Amerique
est une pensee neuve, mais juste. L'Europe en a le droit,
la France en prend l'initiative." 1

It is difficult to follow, impossible to approve, the
vagaries of Lamartine's arguments as to the right of
Europe, especially of France, to save Latin America
from the "greedy" encroachments of the United States.
They differ only in degree from those advanced by the
Germany of our day concerning the universal hegemony
of the Teuton. Undoubtedly the blockade established
during the War of Secession, and the consequent scarcity
of cotton in the markets of Europe, dictated his point of
view.2 "Le globe est la propriete de Vhomme; le nouveau
continent, V Amerique, est la propriete de V Europe." This
sentiment, printed in capitals, forcibly recalls the pre-
tentious arrogance of the Pan-Germanists.3

His conception of the Monroe Doctrine is equally
extraordinary. "Such is this people to whom M. Monroe,
one of their flatterers, said in order to win their applause:
The time has come when you should no longer tolerate that
Europe meddle in the affairs of America, but that, in future,
you should assert your preponderance in the affairs of
Europe!"*

In vain does M. de Chamborant attempt a justification
of these astounding precepts.5 That Lamartine should,
with M. Rouher, proclaim the Mexican Expedition "la
grande pensee du regne" is so essentially in contradiction
with the political tenets of his career, that only a senile

1 Cours de litterature, vol. xx, p. 98. 2 Ibid., p. 104.

8 Ibid., p. 99. * Ibid., p. in. B Lamartine inconnu, p. 247.

479

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

irritation against a nation which had failed to respond
adequately, when offered an opportunity of purchasing
the works of a justly celebrated author, can be advanced
in exculpation. Wounded pride is perhaps more account-
able for the expression of Lamartine's aberration than
appears upon the surface, for it is impossible to take
seriously his fears concerning political ambitions of the
United States in Europe, although his prognostications
of threatening economic supremacy were well founded.1
Lamartine's theories concerning the dangers to which
France might be exposed with the consummation of
Italian political unity were founded, as subsequent events
have proved, on more substantial grounds. Although his
opinions underwent considerable transformation during
the years following 1848, he may be said to have been
consistently and systematically opposed to the political
unity of the Peninsula. With remarkable foresight he
discerned the possibility of an alliance between Italy and
Austria, and realized how detrimental such a pact must
be to France. WThen in power he grudgingly admitted
a strong kingdom in Northern Italy, extending from
Turin to Venice; was even prepared to countenance the
formation of a confederacy of sovereign Italian States,
wholly independent from Austrian influences. But fur-
ther than this he was not inclined to go. For this con-
cession he esteemed that France should seek territorial
compensation in Nice and Savoy, as was the case when,
ten years later, Napoleon III, at the instigation of
Cavour, lent his aid to Piedmont.2 Lamartine was, how-
ever (in view of the extremely delicate position occupied
by the Provisional Government, and by the maxims
expressed in his "Manifesto to Europe"), particularly
anxious to avoid any semblance of interference with

1 Cours de liltcrature, vol. XX, p. 103.

* Cf. Quentin-Bauchart, Lamartine (La politique etrangere), p. 234.

• • 480 • •

POLITICAL VIEWS

Italian affairs. Unsolicited intervention he would not
tolerate. Much as he desired what might be termed a
legitimate pretext for the return of Savoy within the
national fold, he realized that his Declaration of Princi-
ples demanded that the initiative, the cry for help, must
come from Charles Albert. Failing this, however, Milan
or Venice, should they make a direct appeal to France,
might be given a sympathetic hearing.

The diplomatic correspondence of this period contains
many semi-official letters from Italian politicians touch-
ing upon this important problem; some openly seeking
French intervention. The arrival of Mazzini in Paris
practically put a stop, however, to these intrigues. As
M. Quentin-Bauchart correctly sums up the incident,
Mazzini was a patriot above all else, and even his repub-
licanism was subjected to his passionate longing to free
his country from the Austrian yoke. This task he be-
lieved Charles Albert able to accomplish without foreign
intervention, although convinced that, should the neces-
sity occur, French aid could be had for the asking.1
Manin, in Venice, cut off from the rest of Italy, although
he may have shared Mazzini's apprehensions as to the
price Italy would be made to pay for French interven-
tion, was, by force of circumstances, more ready to run
the risks. M. Quentin-Bauchart cites a fragment of a
letter from the great Venetian tribune in which, thanking
France for her sympathy, he writes as follows: " Elle
nous promet un appui qui donne beaucoup a esp6rer, rien
a craindre; les secours venant d'un pays dont Lamartine
est ministre ne sauraient 6tre dangereux." 2 Perhaps
Manin was not quite sincere when professing to ignore
the dangers to which French intervention might give
rise. But his situation was a desperate one, and he could

1 Cf. Mazzini, Republique et royaute en Italie, p. 112.

2 Cf. Documents et pieces authentiques laisses par David Manin, p. 174.

• • 481 • •

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

ill afford to discard the proverbial straw. M. Quentin-
Bauchart affirms that the reunion of Savoy and Nice to
France "restait done le but poursuivi par Lamartine
avec tenacite et il 6tait decide a l'atteindre quelle que ftit
Tissue de la guerre." '

In his "Lettre aux Dix Departements," after he had
resigned office, Lamartine specifically states that if the
struggle for Italian independence had proved a pro-
tracted one, and Charles Albert had made an appeal to
France, he was prepared to go to his aid; adding that
even had the King of Sardinia not called for his help, had
he been worsted, French troops would have interceded,
"non comme conquerants, non comme agitateurs, mais
comme mediateurs armes et desinteresses." 2 And this
programme he asserts would have been carried out, had
he remained in power, even after the revolt of June.3

Doubtless Piedmont must then have paid the price
demanded ten years later; but Lamartine should not
have countenanced any intrigue which sacrificed the
interests of sovereign Italian States to the ambitions
of the border Kingdom. He was, as has been said, always
opposed to a United Italy. Writing Alexandre in 1861,
Madame de Lamartine says: "Helas! M. de Lamartine

1 Quentin-Bauchart, op. cit., p. 348; cf. also letter of June 3, 1848, from
the Sardinian Minister in Paris, the Marquis Brignole, to Pareto, Charles
Albert's Minister for Foreign Affairs.

2 Op. cit., p. 10.

J Cours de litterature, vol. 11, p. 46; cf. also Ibid., vol. ix, p. 408, wherein
Lamartine states that he would never have allowed Austria to crush Pied-
mont. "Nous vous laisserons petite puissance gardienne des Alpes; ce ne
sera qu'une question de frontiere pour nous." "'Les £tats-Unis italiens,'
voila le mot de la situation, voila la politique de la France," he wrote
in 1861 (Cours de litterature, vol. xi, p. 79). It was the only form of political
unity Lamartine could admit for Italy with safety for France, for the pos-
sible alliance with Austria haunted him. In his History of the Revolution of
1848, Garnier-Pages says that Lamartine frequently offered his aid to
Piedmont. He (Lamartine) wished to invade Italy, even against the wishes
of Charles Albert, in order to prevent action by demagogues in France.
Cf. op. cit., vol. vi, p. 392.

• • 482 • •

POLITICAL VIEWS

a eu trop raison contre l'unite. . . . Ricasoli sera plus
dur encore que Cavour." And she relates a conversation
between her husband and three French diplomatists who
shared his views. "lis trouvent l'unite aussi impossible
qu'inique de la part de l'ambition du Piemont, qui
opprime en conquerant avec un hypocrite pretexte
d'affranchir."1

Commenting in 1856 on the glorious impulse which
inspired the Italian patriots to rise against their Austrian
oppressors, Lamartine expresses the prophetic convic-
tion that, in spite of their unquestioned valour, the
Italians had need of the military prestige of France in
order to achieve their liberation. "Ma pensee de pru-
dence et de temporisation pour eux etait plus italienne
que celle de Charles Albert," he somewhat fatuously
adds.2 Again and again in the volumes of his "Cours de
litterature," he returns to the subject, explaining his
action in 1848, and criticizing subsequent negotiations.
For the Congress of Paris in 1856, and Cavour's diplo-
matic victories, his condemnation is most severe.3 He
discerns in the concessions made the decline of French
prestige, and foreshadows the German unity, which must
aim a death-blow at European political independence.
The value to France of an alliance with Italy did not
escape him. "En s'alliant a l'Autriche, le roi d'ltalie
amene a son gre un million de soldats sur nos Alpes," he
writes. "En s'alliant avec nous, le roi d'ltalie amene a
son heure un million d'hommes sur le Tyrol et sur
l'Allemagne du Midi." 4 Hardly less does he dread the
predominance of British influence in the Peninsula,
which, under given circumstances, may be fatal to
French interests.5 Needless to say, Garibaldi's expedi-

1 Alexandre, Madame de Lamartine, p. 288. The identity of these three
diplomatists is not revealed.

2 Cours de litterature, vol. II, p. 38. ' Ibid., vol. ix, p. 337.
4 Ibid., vol. xi, p. 48. B Ibid., p. 49.

• • 483 • •

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

tion to Sicily and the Piedmontese invasion of Naples
fill him with concern, for he sees therein the complicity
of England.1 Seeking alliances for France (in 1861) he
pronounces "L'alliance russe pr6maturee de plusieurs
siecles pour la France," on account of the conflict of
interests in the East; and discarding other political
combinations, he decides in favour of a pact with Aus-
tria.2 Five years before Sadowa he cries: "La France
seule empeche la Prusse de conspirer Tunit6 allemande
par 1'aneantissement de TAut-riche." 3 "Ma politique, en
apparence temeraire en Italie, etait une extreme pru-
dence," wrote Lamartine to Circourt while the latter
was still in Berlin, towards the end of July, 1848.4

Be this as it may, and always excepting the very defi-
nite ambition concerning Savoy, his general policy in
Italy certainly presented no particularly salient or states-
manlike characteristics. As M. Quentin-Bauchart cor-
rectly observes: "Lamartine ne semble point avoir eu sur
la constitution de la peninsule italienne, apres la crise
actuelle, des idees bien arretees." 6 If at a much later
day he specified certain subjective contingencies which
influenced his action, as recorded above, they were
probably the fruit of mature reflection during interven-
ing years. As such they have an undoubted value as
demonstrative of the evolution of his political and dip-
lomatic genius, and, within certain bounds, of his pro-
phetic vision. Historically, however, their import is
slight, as few public men have given evidence in their
reminiscences of a greater tendency towards inaccuracy

1 Nevertheless, in his eagerness to prevent Italian unity in 1848 and to
secure the annexation of Savoy, Lamartine had been willing, at that period,
to grant England a protectorate over Sicily and to place a Piedmontese
prince upon the throne of the island kingdom. Cf. Quentin-Bauchart, op.
cit. {La politique etrangere), p. 273.

2 Cours de litterature, vol. xi, p. 70. * Ibid., p. 71.
* Correspondance, dccccxxxvi.

8 Quentin-Bauchart, op. cit. {La politique Hranghre), p. 344.

. . 484 • •

POLITICAL VIEWS

than Lamartine. His poetic temperament clothed, as
has been said, scenes and actions with colours often far
removed from reality. Without the intention to mislead,
Lamartine is all too frequently misleading. Unless we
have chapter and verse in support of certain allegations,
it behooves us to be prudent in accepting them. Now,
chapter and verse are totally lacking in the scattered
political souvenirs of the "Cours de litterature " ; and
for the process of reconstructing a solid basis one can
only have recourse to the memoirs of contemporaries, for
his own published correspondence (an invaluable check
on imaginative assertions) ceases with 1852. In spite
of such mental reservations, however, it would be mani-
festly unfair to reject as unproved all of Lamartine's
retrospective appreciations of what he accomplished, or
intended to accomplish, during his tenure of office in
1848. No student of the life and character of this
great genius can afford to leave unread the volumes of
the "Cours familier de litt6rature." Therein will be
found the psychological essence of the man who, having
attained full maturity at their inception, gradually de-
clined physically and intellectually, his pen still grasped
firmly in his hand, until his fingers stiffened and fell life-
less at his side.

CHAPTER LVII
THE LAST SLEEP

On May 8, 1867, the Imperial Government of France,
after frequent and often humiliating tergiversations,
finally voted a bill granting Lamartine, as a National
reward, the sum of half a million of francs.

This tardy act of public recognition of the inestimable
services he had rendered was, however, accompanied
by a restriction which greatly chagrined the aged poet.
He was denied any control over the money voted him;
the interest alone, at five per cent, being accorded him
during his lifetime. On his demise the capital would be
paid over to his adopted daughter, Valentine. This pre-
caution, offensive as it must have been to his pride, was
certainly a wise one. Lamartine's notions of financial ad-
ministration were essentially those of a gambler. Specu-
lation was his hobby. His combined optimism and en-
thusiasm (to which must be added a fatuous confidence
in his superior judgment) made him the victim of the
numerous financial combinations which had wrought his
ruin.

With an annual income of twenty-five thousand francs
and the loan of the villa 'at Passy, the Government
at least guaranteed Lamartine a dignified retreat. As
a matter of fact, we have M. Dubois's testimony that
the broken old man occupied himself but little with his
financial affairs after 1867.1

Valentine had assumed control, and proved herself
an able administratrix, collecting and disbursing her
uncle's income, which included the annuity from the

1 Cf. Caplain, Edouard Dubois et Lamartine, p. 147.
• • 486 • •

THE LAST SLEEP

Sultan.1 Only a year before the Government's grant,
Valentine had written to M. de Chamborant (August
31, 1866): ". . . My uncle is devoured by anxiety over
his affairs. His health would not be bad were it not for
this constant worry. I can't express the bitterness in my
soul over the harshness of certain men who take pleas-
ure, I believe, in his martyrdom. . . . My uncle works
a great deal: he has the admirable faculty of freeing
himself from all other thoughts when the hour for work
arrives; and I really think it is this that saves him." 2

The salvation he found in this absorption in his work
was, alas.r to be short-lived. Incessant toil was begin-
ning to break down the physical and mental vigour of
the man of seventy-eight years of age. M. de Chambo-
rant, who saw him for the last time in May, 1868, was
greatly shocked by the change which had taken place
since his visit of the previous year. "Lamartine, the
fascinator of the furious mob ! Lamartine, the profound
thinker, the worker of inexhaustible fecundity, was there
before me, stricken down by age. For a year past his in-
telligence, marvellously preserved till then, was clouded :
the shadow of death hovered over his mighty spirit. I
shall never forget the shudder which rent me as I beheld
him crouching on the sofa of his salon in the chalet. The
sun shed its warmth and light throughout the room, the
lilac blossoms impregnated the air with their perfume.
The great man, insensible to sunlight or the aroma of
spring, or even the stir made by his visitors, kept his

1 Estimated in a letter from Dubois at nineteen thousand francs. Cf.
Caplain, Htdouard Dubois et Lamartine, p. 144.

2 Lamartine inconnu, p. 275; cf. also Alexandre (Souvenirs sur Lamartine,
p. 390), who cites a letter, dictated to Valentine, complaining of the hos-
tility displayed in the Chamber of Deputies to the grant. Napoleon III
again renewed his offer, at the moment, of a gift of two million francs from
his privy purse: but Lamartine declined. " Je viens de voir un homme qui
a refuse deux millions," said M. de La Gueronniere to Emile de Girardin,
as he left Lamartine's presence. (Op. cit., p. 390.) Cf. also Ollivier, Lamar-
tine, p. 202.

• • 487 • •

LIFE OF LAMARTINE

eyes closed, and seemed to sleep." ! If he roused himself
now and again to greet vaguely some new arrival, the
effort was visibly painful, and he lapsed almost immedi-
ately into indifference or somnolence. "I have earned
the right to silence," Lamartine remarked about this
period to Alexandre.2 Gradually the light was failing.
Seated at the fireside of Saint-Point, or in the chalet in
Paris, his apathy steadily increased. Surrounded by de-
voted friends, who sought to revive his flagging interest
in mundane affairs, there were, indeed, occasional flashes
beneath the ashes smothering the flame which had burnt
so brilliantly. But darkness was gathering apace. One
afternoon Valentine, in her effort to dispel the gloom, read
to her uncle the touching verses describing the death of
Lamartine in "Jocelyn." Melting into tears, Lamartine
eagerly queried: "De qui sont ces beaux vers?"3 The
sublime beauty of the music of the words still appealed
to his soul : all else was a blank.

The last summer and autumn of 1868 were spent as
usual at Saint-Point, and in December the return to
Paris was decided upon. Charles Alexandre describes,
in his "Souvenirs," Lamartine's unwillingness to leave
Macon. Did he realize that he was leaving his native
town for the last time? There was almost a struggle to
force him to leave his carriage and enter the train.4 A
few days previously, eluding the constant vigilance of
his niece, he had started out alone and roamed the coun-
tryside, a prey to delirium, like King Lear.5 It was the
beginning of the end. During January and February,
1869, those watching over him realized that he would not
be with them for long. A slight apoplectic seizure he had
experienced before leaving Macon was followed by an-

1 Chamborant, op. cit., p. 280. * Souvenirs de Lamartine, p. 391.

3 Cf. Barres, L' Abdication du poete, p. 90.

4 Op. cit., p. 393. 6 Des Cognets, op. cit., p. 464.

488

THE TOMB OF LAMARTINE

THE LAST SLEEP

other about the middle of February, leaving him dazed,
but not helpless. He himself was conscious of impending
dissolution, yet remained calm and serene to the end.
Gently and without a struggle he entered upon his last
sleep during the night of February 27. The crucifix which
the dying "Elvire" (Madame Charles) had held to her
lips in 1817, lay upon his breast.1 His last conscious
glance had been directed to the portraits of his mother,
wife, and daughter, which hung opposite his bed.

According to the wishes of Lamartine, offers of a State
funeral were declined. He had expressed the desire to be
laid to rest at Saint- Point, beside the remains of his dear
ones, without pomp or ceremony. In compliance with
his oft-repeated request no speeches were made, either
in Paris or when the vault was closed.

"J'ai vecu pour la foule, et je veux dormir seul!"

Alone, well-nigh forgotten by the world, Lamartine
slept undisturbed at Saint-Point until the fetes organ-
ized by the Academie de Macon in 1890, celebrating the
centenary of his birth, awakened the echoes of his im-
mortal genius.2 This impressive ceremony, which betook
of the nature of a world-wide homage, was followed, in
1913, by an equally representative international gather-
ing of political and literary notabilities at Bergues,
where, on September 21, the eightieth anniversary of
Lamartine' s election as deputy from the Departement
du Nord was solemnly commemorated, a beautiful bust,
on the facade of the Hotel de Ville, being unveiled.3

1 Auguste Dorchain, Discours sur Lamartine, p. 13.

2 Cf. Le Centenaire de Lamartine, published by the Academie de Macon,
and giving verbatim the speeches made on this memorable occasion.

3 Cf. A. Lamartine, 1833-1913, containing the speeches delivered. In
July, 1886, a most unworthy statue of Lamartine was unveiled in an out-
of-the-way little Parisian square at Passy. Macon possesses a more digni-

• • 489 • •

LIFE OF IAMARTINE

"Ah! quel peuple!" he had written. "On peut le
maudire dans ses inconstances ; mais il faut l'adorer pour
sa fidelit6 et ses retours!"

Lamartine has come into his own again. The generous
people of France, awakened from their torpor, seize any
opportunity of demonstrating their appreciation, tardy,
but none the less sincere, of the honest statesman and
incomparable poet, who loved them so well.

fied monument, and the village of Milly a bust. Political jealousies would
seem to have prevented the erection of a monument on the only site be-
fitting his fame — the Place de l'H&tel de Ville, in Paris.

THE END

INDEX

"A Lucy L ," origin and truth,

I. 53-

Abdication of Louis-Philippe, 2,212-
214.

Abd-ul-Medjid, and L., 1, 410; estate
and pension for L., 2, 438-440.

Abuses, L. on sanctioned, 2, 3.

Academie de Saone et Loire, L.'s elec-
tion, I, 71; influence on him, 72 n.

Adam, Mme. Juliette, on L.'s presi-
dential candidacy, 2, 414 re.

Advertisement, L.'s policy, 2, 455.

Aeroplane. See Flying-machine.

Affre, Archb. D. A., killed, 2, 404 re.

Agoult, Comtesse d' (Daniel Stern),
and "Raphael," I, 159, 160; on
salons of July Monarchy, 2, 13;
on proposed Paris meetings (1848),
201 «.; on L.'s Manifesto, 258; on
L. and Ledru-Rollin, 284 «.; on
demonstration of March 17, 286;
on Belgian filibusters, 304 re.; on
waning of L.'s force, 321; on Six-
teenth of April, 338; on L.'s lack of
wit, 340; on L.'s self-confidence,
362 re. ; on Fifteenth of May, 366 n.

Agriculture, L.'s mismanagement of
estates, 2, 431, 445.

Aigueperse, d', on L. at Insti-

tut Puppier, I, 33.

Albany, Countess of, and L., I, 84-
86, 244.

Albert, Prince Consort, on L. and
Irish question, 2, 315.

Albert, Alexandre, and Provisional
Government, 2, 234, 236; Six-
teenth of April, 331, 332; and ar-
rest of Blanqui, 343; Fifteenth of
May, 366, 370.

Albert, Maurice, on Graziella affair,

ii 94-

Alceste, L.'s Oriental trip, I, 370,
386, 395-

Alexandre, Charles, on L.'s first love
affair, I, 53; on effect of " Medita-
tions poetiques," 229; on naming
of L.'s daughter, 260; on L. and
wife, 320; on Mme. de Lamartine's
literary prudery, 2, 14; on L. and

Church and State, 131; on "Les
Confidences," 180 re.; on L. and
resignation, 387; on L. in Days of
June, 398; on L. and coup d'etat,
441 ; as secretary, 447 ; on composi-
tion of "Le Desert," 452; on L.'s
policy of advertisement, 455; on
L.'s later writings, 460; on L.'s
femineity, 465 re.; on L.'s last de-
parture from Macon, 488.

Alin, Dr. , and L. and Mme.

Charles, I, 190, 193, 195, 196.

Allart, Hortense, and "Raphael,"
I, 160.

Alliances, L.'s policy (1848), 2, 249,
268, 270, 31 1 ; L. on possible French
(i86i),484.

Alton-Shee, Comte d', and proposed
Paris reform meeting (1848), 2,
197, 201.

Ambition, character of L.'s political,

1, 107, 415, 417, 451, 2, 121, 131,
184.

Amnesty, Mole's offer, 2, 56, 58.
Anarchy, L.'s abhorrence, 1 , 331 , 334,

414; and militarism, 2, 33.
Ancestry of L., I, 8.
Angebert, Caroline (Colas), and L.'s

parliamentary candidacy, I, 342-

347, 388; and "Politique ration-

nelle,"364.
Apponyi, Comte A. R., and L., 2,

319-

Apponyi, Comte Rodolphe, on Amer-
ican spoliation claim, I, 424.

Arago, D. F., in Revolution of 1848,

2, 220; in Provisional Govern-
ment, 226, 230, 232, 235, 236;
Minister of War, 330; election to
Executive Commission, 360.

Aristocracy, L.'s attitude, 2, 39.

Army, L. and Law of Disjunction,
2, 30-34; Paris demonstration
against regulars (1848), 287, 288;
and Provisional Government, 297,
324; L.'s effort for supporting
force, 330; Arago as Minister of
War, 330; Cavaignac commands,
331; Revue de la Fraternite, 342;

493

INDEX

forced resignation of generals, 343.

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